


Neverending Nightmare

by DaiNoShoujoNoYami



Series: The Neverending Journey [1]
Category: The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Angry Loki, F/M, Gen, Kidnapping, Lots of it, Markiplier look-alike!Amadeus Cho, OCs going nuts with stress, Rape/Non-con Elements, Snark, Swearing, Unwanted Nicknames, Will reveal more characters as time goes on, Word count will continue to rise, prepare thy tissues, terrible jokes in terrible situations
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-09-14
Updated: 2018-01-10
Packaged: 2018-02-17 11:59:33
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 12
Words: 69,506
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2308925
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DaiNoShoujoNoYami/pseuds/DaiNoShoujoNoYami
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>With everything hanging by a fragile thread, does she have what it takes to not only secure her own freedom but to survive this encounter to see another day in the sun... and see her home again?</p><p>Rated for non-con, gore, angst, nudity, emotion and violence. </p><p>Read at your own risk.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Always a Fighter (Prologue)

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah... bear with me, for a moment.
> 
> EDIT: (5/4/2014) Yeah... read through it again and went, "Hey... I can do better." SO I did. Enjoy.
> 
> EDIT: (9/15/2014) I finally got around to posting this to my AO3 account... ugh, I'm so late to the game, as always xD
> 
> Also, I added a few things that weren't in my FF.net posting of it... might go change that one around too. Dunno yet.
> 
> EDIT: (8/14/2016) I was unhappy with it's continuity issues with what chapters were to come, so I decided to tidy it up a bit.
> 
> EDIT: (1/10/18) Weeell.... uh... it's been a bit, hasn't it? I made a few changes to the prologue to make it fit better with what was to come WHICH I AM STILL WORKING ON! Have faith!!

_"It is madness for sheep to talk peace with a wolf."_

_― Thomas Fuller_

_"When I saw what a black, awful joke the world was, I went crazy as a coot!_

_So why can't you see the funny side? Why aren't you laughing?"_

_― The Joker, **The Killing Joke**_

\---------------------

Ellie swiveled her head from side to side as she closed the door behind her, her right hand tightly grasping the handle in a death grip as she eased the door into its frame as gentle as a feather in the wind, without making a single sound. Once the door was flush against the frame, she gently loosed her grasp on the handle and held her breath as it silently slid into place. She let a small smile radiate her face for a moment before it fell and she looked down the hallway, mentally preparing herself for the next task ahead of her.

She took a hesitant step forward and gently applied pressure to the old floorboard, taking great care to not step down on one of the more boisterous boards with her other foot. Ellie carefully tip-toed her way down the hallway and silently stepped on the silent parts of the hallway that she had memorized over the past four weeks, planning her escape from the second born prince of Asgard that held her captive; Prince Loki. Ellie breathed a silent breath of relief when she reached the stairs, one part of her harrowing escape completed.

Ellie then swung her backpack off her shoulder and tightly grasped it to her front, pressing her back against the wall as she tip-toed down the stairs at the points closest to the wall, silently thanking physics or whatever science that caused the phenomenon of silence on this part of the stairs. She only relaxed slightly when she made it to the landing of the first floor, mentally cheering at the fact that half of the first part of her escape was already over. Taking a moment, she surveyed her surroundings; taking in everything it great detail so that way she wouldn’t be blind-sighted by anything on her way through.

The hallway that the stair case opened up to was Victorian in design, with it’s cream-colored walls, caramel stained wood trim with crown moldings, and dark colored wood grain floors. But, the décor was Spartan as there was only two pieces of furniture and maybe one painting. There was a dresser-type piece by the front door and a nightstand-type piece by the staircase, and the painting was on the wall directly in front of Ellie, depicting what looked like a eighteenth century vessel braving a fierce storm. She looked to her left to see the Dining Room – and the _one_ dresser-type piece that she _always_ stubbed her damned toe on every time she went to the _left_ instead of the _right_ – to see the moonlight filter through the window and light up the room, giving it an ethereal glow.

Turning away from the room she quietly slung the backpack back on and made her way down the hallway, taking great care yet again to watch where she stepped, her footwork now more than ever important as she passed the Living room, where the soft light of a lamp spilled out into the hallway. She peeked from around the corner and nearly went boneless in relief again; Loki was asleep on the couch, a book on his chest and his head propped up by his arm, acting as a pillow with his ebony black hair spilling out over his shoulders and his vibrant blue eyes closed. His face was strangely peaceful, yet still guarded even in sleep – which set off alarm bells in her head, but she ignored them and chalked it up to paranoia. His chest rose and fell in deep, rhythmic motions and his eyes twitched behind his lids, signaling that he was in REM sleep.

Ellie steeled herself as she straightened out her back, gripping the strap of her backpack full of her needed supplies as she looked at the door only about six feet away. Freedom was just right there behind that hopefully _unenchanted_ – it seemed that when Loki slept his more powerful spells and enchantments either went away or died down to the point of a being minor nuisance – door and she could nearly taste it. She stepped forward, gently pressing down most of her weight down on her foot before lifting the other painstakingly slow and doing the same to it, and with each step her once bottled emotions became closer and closer to bursting to the surface as she neared it; she was _so close_ , only a few steps more. _Almost there_ –

**_ Creak! _ **

Ellie froze.

 _Shit_.

She opened her eyes after a few moments – _when had she closed them?_ – and half expected to see Loki standing before her, smirking down at her like a adversary who had just played the final and decisive move in a chess tournament, only to find empty space. Curious, she turned around and looked into the Living room, seeing Loki still in the same position as when she last saw him. Her instincts told her to hurry up and get out the door while she still could, but her intuition told her the opposite. And it was only confirmed by the quick, now-you-see-it-now-you-don’t quirk of the Self-Proclaimed God’s lips. Ellie slumped her shoulders and sighed.

“You were awake the entire time, weren’t you?”

Vivid blue eyes flashed open and Loki just smirked at her with that _damned smirk_ , freezing her on the spot. She barely blinked before –

**_SLAM!_ **

Ellie blinked for a second as she cleared stars from her vision, Loki had knocked her pack to the side and had his right hand gripping her left arm in an ironclad grip while his left hand was loosely wrapped around her throat. Why did she even think she had a chance?

Loki smirked as he looked down at her, “Ever since you stepped out into that hallway.” The smirk dropped as he leaned closer, “Did you really think you could escape me?” Ellie threw up her false bravado whenever she found herself in a situation like this.

“Well, you know what they say, ‘Don’t knock it ‘til you try it’…” She trailed off as his grip tightened just slightly on her precious neck, now no longer sitting there but gently grasping it, she bet he could feel her quickened pulse beneath his hands, and silently cursed in her head as she felt her cheeks burning as he leaned only ever closer.

His breath ghosted over her nose and left cheek as he went to her ear, pressing his body against hers and effectively pinning her to the wall. Ellie mentally cursed again as she felt her body heat up at the touch, blaming her over-active hormones and, possibly, some kind of compulsory magic that Loki wielded – though, that pessimistic person inside her head told her that he probably _wasn’t_ using magic and she actually like what he was doing… sadly, even her optimistic side agreed.

He chuckled darkly as he turned his head to speak _directly_ into her ear; the damned bastard breathing on her damned ear wasn’t helping, actually making things worse in the way of the slowly stoking heat that seemed to center further down…

Damn him and his damned ability to turn her hormones against her. _Damn him_.

“If you continue this little game, _kostlig_ , I may have to be forced to take drastic action to keep you in line…” Ellie saw red.

“Like _hell_ you will.” She growled, bucking against him and very nearly nailing him in the groin. He growled back and _really_ pressed up against her now; she could feel every contour of his lithe, muscled frame that was as hard as granite, and his body was just _radiating_ heat. His grip moved from her neck to her jaw as he angled her head towards the door, his lips brushing against her ear.

“No need to make this harder on yourself, _kostlig_ ; you follow my rules and do what I say and no one gets hurt, and _no_ , your precious Avengers won’t find you.” Ellie’s eyes darted to the side as she looked at Loki when he came into her field of vision. He turned and looked straight into her eye as he smirked.

Then he removed his left hand from her and snapped his fingers, the front door opening to reveal… nothing.

Absolutely _nothing._

Ellie’s eyes nearly misted over, but she blinked to keep the moisture at bay; it was an illusion, there was a world out there, he just put some kind of one-way black shroud to confuse her, he _had_ to; he _must have_!

“As you can see…” Ellie growled lowly at the smugness in Loki’s voice, just _wishing_ she could smack that damned look off his face, “There’s nowhere for you to go, so your little attempt earlier would have failed regardless of my intervention. There’s no escape from me, _kost_ –”

He was cut off as Ellie’s right hand, which was free, slapped him across the face, which jerked to the side with the force of it. Either he wasn’t expecting it or she just hit him that hard… though it was probably the former rather than the latter.

To be honest, she shocked herself a little bit for smacking him.

“ _Do not call me that **again**_." She said through her clenched teeth, at this point in her – what, two month captivity? It was hard to tell since she couldn’t really mark the days anywhere without getting backhanded for ruining the furniture or something; not really caring that she had probably pissed off Loki to the Nth extreme with not only slapping him but interrupting him…

Oh well, she never made things easy on herself anyway, plus, there was little he could do to her anyway that hasn’t already been done to her in the past… besides being killed.

"I am _not_ your little _lover_ , so don’t you _dare_ call me by these _stupid_ little _nicknames_ anymore; _I do not belong to you, you crazy, demented, sick, twisted **fuck**!_ And if you think I’m going to let you have your way with me then you’ve got another thing com–”

Ellie choked as Loki’s hand came back to her throat and squeezed _hard_ , hard enough to leave bruises on her pallor white skin. She took her free hand and grasped his wrist out of instinct rather than the idea of actually being able to break his hold on her airways.

Loki turned to her with rage burning in those blue eyes that mirrored the sky – but yet didn’t – all signs of amusement gone from his face and now only a stony expression bared down on her. He bent down to her ear again.

“Do _not_ hit me again, _kostlig_. Or there will be consequences.” He snarled in her ear, his hot breath scorching the outer shell of her ear and earlobe, “Do you understand?” He asked, his nose dipping into her hair from the sheer proximity of his lips to her ear. Was he sniffing her hair? Creep.

Ellie only took a moment to answer.

“… Fuck _… you… **asshole** …_!” she choked out, blindly kicking to get free. He groaned and his grip slipped as he back up slightly, allowing her to break free and make a run for the front door, despite the fact that the outside was covered in shadows she was determined to prove that it was just an illusion and she’d just burst through it–

And land face first onto her bed.

Ellie rolled over but before she could get up Loki burst through her door and pounced, pinning her to the bed as he held both her wrists in one hand and held down her hips with his own, her legs kicking out fruitlessly underneath him. Loki watched as Ellie threw her head side to side, wriggling and squirming around to try and find an advantage she could exploit but finding none.

After a moment or two she stopped, panting slightly as she leaned her head back, her eyes closed, catching her breath and waiting, her dark caramel brown hair came loose from her ponytail and was spayed out on the bed sheet. She couldn’t fight her way to freedom now, but if she waited long enough there would be an opening, an angle she could exploit, a weakness she could hit, something, _anything_ \- she refused to be used and tossed aside, she refused to give up her body to this man; the only one allowed to touch her was... Not _him,_ not this _madman_ above her.

Loki chuckled above her, obviously finding her antics and subsequent surrender amusing, “Always fighting and looking for an angle to exploit, a way to escape and come out on top. But I’m afraid that, this time _kostlig_ ,” Ellie’s eyes flashed open and she glared at Loki when the nickname passed his lips, “… There will be no escape.”

She narrowed her eyes to slits, a very obvious ‘ _we shall see’_ showing on her features.

Loki looked up from her face, moving her wrists into one hand and waved the other in the air to produce leather cuffs. Before Ellie could even think of fighting they were wrapped around her wrists and her bed post, giving her no real defense against the alien – Though, really, did she even have a shadow of a chance against him in the first place?

Ellie’s brave face cracked slightly as her heart started to thump heavily against her chest, her thoughts burning with hysteria flew through her consciousness, old memories from so long ago playing in her head like an old piece of film stuck on repeat in her brain; she took deep breaths in through her nose and out her mouth as she stared the man down.  She hardened her soul and crushed those thoughts; she wasn’t going to get anywhere denying the situation she was in.

Ellie then poured her fear and anxiety into her limbs as she pushed herself down and put those long legs to work – using a move she had only used once and pulled a muscle doing – managed to wrap her legs around Loki’s head, then pulled him down with as much force as she could muster.

She grabbed the bed post and used the momentary advantage to flip them over and flip Loki off the bed.

Ellie scooted and crawled her way back up to the bed post, teeth pulling at the straps to loosen and finally unravel them.

The minute they came off she launched herself off the bed and towards the door, hitting the ground on her hands and knees, quickly scrambling to her feet to grasp the door frame.

She was grabbed from behind.

“NO! **_LET ME GO_** _!”_ She screamed as she was ripped from the door frame and thrown back on the bed. She blindly kicked out and managed to nail Loki, though it wasn’t enough as hands grabbed her leg, then the other, and pinned them to the mattress.

Ellie swung out only for her hand to be grabbed and forced down, her other hand suffering the same fate.

She thrashed from side to side, her eyes twisted shut, her teeth bared and an almost inhuman growl and screech coming from her throat as she fought the holds on her body.

A blow landed and she saw stars, her body freezing in shock but her mind now clouded with blind fear and aggression, continued to race a million miles a minute.

“Scream all you want, no one will hear you.” A voice said to her left. She opened her eyes slightly and looked at the mirror on the dresser where she had heard the voice and ice ran through her veins as she looked upon Loki’s doubles holding her down, the man himself moving to straddle her hips once again, his hands spread out by her torso and head bowed, the long strands of ebony obscuring the view of his face, and his chest heaving slightly as he caught his breath.

He probably wasn’t expecting Ellie to have put up such a fight.

He leaned down and gently grasped her jaw with his right hand, twisting her head to put himself in her view, “I have tried to do this nicely, but it seems I have no other options.”  She stared up in his eyes which glowed with a predatory glint.

“You have no way to escape me, no one will rescue you, and you are _mine_ to keep; I will break you if I have to, but if you accept it now we have no need to go any further...” He brushed his lips against her own, his eyes going half mast, “Do you understand?” he whispered against them.

She said nothing for a moment, her anger simmering beneath the surface of her fatigue, searching for the right words to say.

“… Go _fuck_ yourself.” She snarled, her tired face pulling back into a sneer. She pulled back as far as the mattress would allow – only an inch – and it felt like miles had been put between them.

Loki just sighed, smirked, and then smashed his lips against hers.

Ellie’s face twisted as she felt the trickster’s tongue lick her bottom lip, not in asking for permission but as a warning as the appendage forced its way into her mouth. She felt her body quiver as the invading tongue caressed her teeth and gums, trying to urge her own into action. _As if_.

In retaliation she bit down _hard_ on his tongue, causing him to draw back in pain. Loki growled as he pulled back, his eyes alight in anger and she saw stars again as he slapped her. This time her vision was focused on the right side of the room, Loki’s double staring straight into her eyes with a smirk on his face.

She shivered – cringed _, cringed_ – as she felt the real Loki’s hands wander about her person, brushing over her endowed chest and her stomach, coming to rest at the top of her denim jeans.

_If you can’t fight your attacker, submit. When he gives you leeway or underestimates you for one second you strike, don’t think twice about it._

_Just do it._

Those were Natasha’s words to Ellie after they had sparred in the Rec room of Stark Tower, after one of their training sessions. The SHIELD agent had been concerned – Natasha’s brand of concern, to be sure – about Ellie’s lack of fighting abilities despite the fact that she spent most of her time in Stark Tower. Her exact words were that, if Stark’s security failed and no one was around, how could she defend herself against an opponent that may been taller, faster, and stronger than her when she barely even knew how to fire a gun?

Simple; she couldn’t. She was a sitting duck.

So, they had begun training her in hand-to-hand combat – which she picked up rather fast, to Natasha’s surprise… again, her brand of surprise – and had given her at least an introductory course in firearms. She had gotten the basics and some of the higher level stuff down before –

Ellie gasped and grunted as she felt Loki bite down _hard_ on the spot between her neck and jawline, leaving a nasty mark and drawing blood; probably retribution for biting his tongue, or to keep her from withdrawing into her head… or, more than likely, both. 

She shivered – _cringed_ , dammit, _cringed –_ as she felt Loki lick the wound on her neck, then she suppressed another as Loki moved up, down, and around her neck, pressing opened mouth kisses, nips, and sucks to the soft flesh, adding more bruises on top of the hand prints from him strangling her earlier. Ellie felt the heat between her legs intensify and felt the liquids flow, much to her chagrin. Damn her hormones, and damn this man. _Damn_ him.

 _“If you can’t fight your attacker, submit._ ” Natasha’s voice chided again, “ _When he gives you leeway or underestimates you for one second you strike…”_

Oh how much she hated the situation right now.

Ellie clenched her fists as she threw her head back, squeezing her eyes shut from their blank staring of the ceiling, and tried to focus on her breathing and not making a sound as Loki’s hands moved to her breasts, kneading them and flicking her nipples through her bra. In and out.

In and out.

In and – okay, that was just a _bad_ innuendo in a _bad_ situation. Don’t think about that.

Ellie’s body seized up as Loki pushed her shirt and bra up, leaving it to bunch up just above her breasts and leaving said fleshy orbs exposed to Loki’s roving eyes, the cold air making goose-bumps pop up over her skin and, sadly, making her nipples go hard as pebbles.

Damn this self-proclaimed god to _hell_ ; the minute she could she was gonna shove her foot _so far_ up his _ass_ –

Ellie didn’t get to finish the thought as the alien took one of her nubs – the left one? – into his mouth. She felt little moans catch in her throat as he lapped at it, flicking his tongue in broad strokes as his other hand pinched and rubbed the other. Her hips jumped slightly as she tried to wrestle herself free, her own pleasure despite being violated making her want to flee all the more.

Loki just pushed his own hips back onto her own, his hardness pressing into her clothed self as he did so. She swore she could hear the faintest moan from him before she felt lips on the inside of her right wrist – Right, Loki’s doubles. Fucking _perfect_ , just what she needed. Now she’s not only getting raped by _one_ guy but _multiples_ of the same guy. _Great_ , just fan-fucking-tastic!

Her breath hitched as the lips began to kiss her palm, still holding her arm in an iron clad grip as another hand began stroking her arm that was currently being violated via right hand. Ellie opened her eyes and looked down to see Loki stop his ministrations on her chest, looking up to stare into her eyes. The pupils of his eyes almost completely taking over the blue iris, the lids half closed as he leaned forward and kissed her again, though this time he didn’t use his tongue.

Wise choice, she would have tried to bite it off if he had tried again.

Her head was pushed back as he pressed down on her, tilting his head to the side as he made the kiss deeper. Her eyes were wide open as his were clenched shut, one hand on her stomach and the other’s thumb gently rubbing the bruised skin of her neck. He pulled back after a moment and moved down to straddle her legs and waved away the two doubles holding her legs, both of them vanishing as he flipped the button on her jeans.

 ‘ _Oh my god_ ,’ Ellie thought desperately, ‘ _He’s really gonna do this, isn’t he?_ ’

Natasha’s words sprung to mind again as she felt her eyes burn with tears she refused to let loose. Submit, and then stab him in the balls when he has his trousers down.

Submit, and then hit him where it counts.

So what if he had his way with her? She didn’t have much of a chance to find anyone to remarry anyway, so she really didn’t have to worry about being even _more-_ damaged goods. Besides, she was defective from the beginning anyway, so why did it matter anymore? She was broken anyway right after that, and then again, so why did it matter anymore. Why did it matter? Why did any of it matter?

It didn’t.

That’s why she turned her mind off, and resigned to just lay there and take it. She’d get her revenge later.

She always did.

Ellie’s head lolled to the side as the last logical thought left her brain and she relaxed her limbs, her remaining fist unclenching and her gaze going hazy as she gave in. Loki stopped as his hands paused, halting their attempt to pull down her jeans. Loki looked up with narrowed eyes as he stared at the blank, expressionless face of Ellie for a moment. He reached forward and grasped her chin, pulling her gaze from the wall and to him. They stared at each other for what seemed like an eternity, though for what reason was anyone’s guess.

Loki finally let go of her chin and stripped her of her jeans, leaving her legs bare to the coldness of the room and her white underwear out in the open. His face was pinched in concentration as he pulled down her damp underwear, the heavy scent of her musk wafting through the air and to his nose as he removed the offending garment and threw it over his shoulder, not watching where it fell. His doubles, the one on his left had stopped his little activity a long time ago, came onto the bed as they pressed Ellie’s wrists together; Loki procured a set of metal handcuffs and secured her to the bed post.

Loki waved away the last two and sat alone in the room with Ellie, his and her labored breathing filling the otherwise silent surroundings. He stared at her for a moment, an unreadable expression on his face as he looked upon her bare form; in different circumstances Ellie would have made some lewd comment about the person liking what they had seen, but now all she would do was just _stare_ at the ceiling.

Loki sat between and pushed her legs apart as he leaned forward, nose-to-nose with Ellie and his back bent as he magicked his clothes away, his length brushing the folds of her entrance. She gave no resistance as he prodded her.

“Learn your place, already?” he said silently, not smugly or triumphantly as Ellie would have expected. She didn’t answer as she stared up blankly at the ceiling, letting her thoughts just be nothing but whatever little crack she found on the aforementioned viewpoint. He grunted at her, for what reason she couldn’t think of, and he pushed the head of himself through. A sharp intake of breath from her was all he got.

Loki slowly slid himself the rest of the way, watching as she winced when his length pushed her walls to their limit, and groaned as the _tightightight scorching_ heat of Ellie pressed and squeezed him in earnest. He laid his head on the bed beside Ellie’s and rested his hands on her hips, his lips on the same level as her forehead. Loki stayed that way for a while, watching and waiting, as Ellie’s body adjusted to his girth.

Ellie’s breath had been caught in her throat when Loki had slid past and into her, and had finally seated himself within. She felt a sharp pain as her muscled walls clenched and unclenched around the intruder, her body unused to the purpose that specific organ had been designed for. Only after a few minutes – hours, days, or maybe _years_ – did she take in another breath, her body finally stretching itself accordingly to accommodate the intrusion.

Ellie did not feel the whine that left her lips when Loki pulled out to the tip, nor the moan when he pushed back in again. She did not feel her mouth part open and gasp in precious air as sweat broke out on her skin. She did not even feel her scream or the _white-hot_ burst of pleasure as Loki just brushed pass that little spot within her.

She did not feel the way Loki’s hands worshipped her body, the way his lips would brush against her ear as he would whisper sweet nothings into her ear, or the way how he angled his thrusts to hit her spot just right to make her toes curl, her back arch, and her fingers dig into the fabric of the blankets below her when the cuffs disappeared. And yet, she did.

And she _hated it_.

Ellie’s tightly closed eyes leaked tears as she turned her head away, covering her face with her hands as she tried to save some of her dignity in the face of her defilement and debasement when the cuffs had disappeared. Loki gently grasped her wrists and pulled them away from her face, his thrusts slowing as he brushed away her tears.

“This would have never happened if you hadn’t tried to escape, or insult me.” He said solemnly, “I would have preferred you to have enjoyed this than like you are now; defeated, broken, and hurt. _Kostlig_ …” Ellie refused to open her eyes, “ _Kostlig_ …” she opened her eyes, knowing he’d force them open if she didn’t. More bulbous tears ran down her face as her eyes opened, letting the water run freely.

Her liquid green and blue gaze looked up into Loki’s electric blue, her bravado shattered a long while ago, now the emotions ran free on her face and in her eyes. Loki’s remained as stoic as ever, never cracking, never breaking, never showing. Oh how did it piss her off, but she was too distressed to be mad at that point in time.

She felt more tears fall as Loki grasped the sides of her face, ‘ _Why me? Of seven billion people on this fucking planet, of the fourteen billion humans in both universes,_ why me?’ she thought as he kissed her temple, ‘ _What makes_ me _so_ fucking special _that almost everything has to be out to get me? Why is it always the creeps that come after me? Why doesn’t anyone save me?_ ’

Why can’t I save _myself_?

Ellie watched Loki as he quickened his thrusts again, his hands left her face to resume their position on her hips, holding them in a tight grip as he pulled her into his thrusts; his eyes never left hers as they stared each other down, the thrusts becoming more and more erratic as he began to trek closer and closer to the edge. Loki laid his forehead against hers, his lips a hairsbreadth from hers, and Ellie’s tears dried up. She had none left to cry as the void within her, created by Loki’s thrusts, grew larger and larger and swallowed her tears whole, as she felt the filth she always felt underneath her skin double.

Loki closed his eyes and pressed his lips to hers, and this time she did close her own, and wrapped her arms around his neck. If only to pretend.

If only.

If only it was _him._

“Loki.” The words breezed past their lips.

Loki froze.

Ellie gasped and cried out as she came, the muscles of her bearing down on him like as if she was trying to hold him in for all time, the hand on his back scratched red, angry, feline-like lines while the other hand tightened in his hair as her back arched and her legs tightened around his waist.

“ _Loki_!” She called again, her head tilted back, ripping her lips from his, and her face twisted and turned as the initial release hit her like a tidal wave, before her features relaxed under the afterglow; her back lowering, her muscles unclenching, her head falling to the side, and her arms falling away to lay useless beside her head.

Loki’s eyes screwed shut as he came with a low growl, his muscles coiling underneath his skin, his jaw clenching, his grip bruising the delicate skin of Ellie’s hips and filling her to the brim with his seed. He fell onto his elbows as the tension eased away, and propped himself up – wary of crushing her under his weight. His eyes opened and he watched Ellie’s face as she drifted off to sleep, a single word on her lips.

“Lo… ki.”

-

Ellie shook off the last vestiges of sleep as the sunlight from the window to the right of her bed, opposite of the dresser, filtered through and lit up her eyelids in a warm orange glow. She blearily opened her eyes and cursed the sun for rising before flopping over –

Right into a solid chest.

_Heat. White hot and electrifying and numb and tense and insatiable; thrusts burying themselves deeper and deeper, being filled over and over again. Fingers grasping at fabric and almost tearing it in two, back aching, hips aching –_

_Sadness. Overwhelming sadness; anger, hate, depression, pleasure, heat, fear; all of it mixed together in a haze, inseparable and indistinguishable from one another. One name, one word that was the cause of all of it, four letters that had imprisoned her here, two syllables on the tip of her tongue…._

_“Loki.”_

_The edge; falling, falling, falling and yet such a… release, “_ Loki! _”_

_Landing… landed, softly; warm, relaxed, sad… still so sad, still so angry, still so… broken. Tired, so tired; more than tired, never want to wake up; someone’s arms, wrapped around me, hold me, don’t let me go; I’m so cold. So sad, so lonely, so broken, so lost… four letters. Two syllables._

_“Lo… ki.”_

Ellie froze as the events of the previous night filtered through to her mind, and just laid there in Loki’s arms, processing it all. She stiffened slightly as Loki pulled her closer in his sleep, mumbling something incoherent. Taking in a deep breath to calm her erratic heartbeat, she took stock of the various aches and pains of her body.

There was a slight pulse of pain from her neck where Loki had bit her, there was a slight radiating heat coming from her hips where Loki had grabbed them with his inhuman strength, and there was that ache between her legs – she stopped that train of thought before it could continue. It would do her no good to break down or something similar while she was in her offender’s arms.

Said offender mumbled something else before turning onto his back, dragging Ellie with him to lay on top of him as he settled in his new position, drifting back to sleep. Her skin felt like it wanted to crawl off her bones as she felt Loki’s fingertips idly brushing against her soft shoulder, her anger coming in full force at the thought of how Loki was being so damned intimate even though his actions were anything but –

 _She did not feel the way Loki’s hands worshipped her body, the way his lips would brush against her ear as he would whisper sweet nothings_ …

‘ _Fuck you, brain._ ’ She thought angrily as the accursed organ reminded her that he _had_ actually been gentle and intimate at one point, but she wholeheartedly pointed out that the contact had been initiated during a forced sexual act that she wanted no part of and had made that fact very clear, which negated the previous point.

Ellie raised her head and looked down at Loki as she carefully unwound herself from the sleeping alien, being careful not to jostle him too much as she made her escape from his hold. Ellie sat down on the edge of the bed with her feet touching the cold, bare floor which sent shivers down her spine. Though, she refused to go back into the warmth because that would mean being in Loki’s arms, and she seriously didn’t want that.

_When he gives you leeway or underestimates you for one second you strike…_

Right, she needed to strike now while he was sleeping so he couldn’t fight back; his death would probably undo the magic voodoo that currently enveloped the house and allow her to escape. She gingerly leaned forward on her wobbly legs as she attempted to stand, locking her knees in place and turning ever so slowly towards the door leading out into the hallway.

Ellie fought down the wave of nausea as her thoughts drifted on exactly why her legs were so unstable, but forced herself to stop. She couldn’t afford to fall apart, she needed to get out _now;_ when she has escaped and is relatively safe then she can break into as many pieces as she wants before she reassembles herself later on, but not right now. _Definitely_ not right now.

She gently grasped the wooden door frame, remembering her scream to let her go answered by a powerful swing onto the bed –

‘ _Focus, dammit. Don’t lose your head!_ ’ she thought desperately as she stepped tentatively forward onto those familiar, quiet floorboards, slowly making her way through the hallway and back down the stairs to where her backpack laid, long forgotten in the heated events of the night before.

She stared at it for god-knew how long, seriously considering what her next course of action was. Stabbing and killing a man – an alien man, but still a man – in his sleep, stopping his heart from beating, ending his very _existence_. Could she really do that? Could she really put that blood on her hands whether it was guilty blood or not; if it was justified or not?

 _‘Way to have a moral dilemma when the object of said dilemma is currently asleep and could wake up at any time._ ’

Ellie squared her shoulders; she had to. It was the only way to escape, and the only other options was to just sit and wait for either Loki to kill her, the Avengers to finally find her, or for her to somehow kill herself.  And to be honest, she was sick and tired of letting other people take control of her life. She was sick and tired of it when she was a child, she was sick and tired of it when she moved in with her estranged father, she's been sick and tired of it for over a decade, and she was _definitely_ sick and tired of it now.

_Just like how you were sick and tired of denying a name to the one you wanted so much, so you called out any name that would do to hide away in the swallows of your familiar denial?_

Ellie quickly and quietly retrieved the backpack and dug out the shank-like weapon she had managed to acquire when she had found a broken piece of metal hidden underneath one of the many bookcases and a torn piece of fabric from one of the other bedrooms. She gripped the fabric covered handle and silently made her way back upstairs, her resolve in killing her captor-turned-rapist like adamantium.

Yeah, because fuck steel-metaphors; that shit can’t even _touch_ what she’s feeling right now. 

Ellie felt her skin go numb and electrified at the same time as she slowly walked through the doorway to her bedroom – she looked around to make sure he didn’t leave a double in his place while the real man stood off to the side, catching her in the act and subsequently taking her only weapon – to find Loki still on his back, sleeping peacefully. Her grip tightened on her weapon as she gently climbed into bed and straddled Loki’s hips – Ellie absentmindedly noted that she was now in a position that Loki had over her the previous night – with her weapon tightly held on to by her right hand.

She took in a silent, deep breath as she put both hands on the shank – because, honestly, that’s what it was – and raised it above her head, her eyes trained to aim at Loki’s abdomen. Her muscles tensed as her eyes flickered to Loki’s face, her blank stare showing nothing as she poised for her attack.

‘ _I’ll see you in Hell, asshole._ ’ 

A moment of tense stillness.

Then she jerked her muscles into action, the masses of sinew and flesh shooting forth like a compressed spring coil finally coming free from its confines; the weapon eagerly went forward in her hands like a hungry animal going for the kill, and sunk greedily in Loki’s stomach.

But Loki didn’t move.

_He didn’t even flinch._

Ellie froze in horror as his body shimmered away and she was left alone on the bed. Thinking fast, she twirled herself around and sat her back up against the wall above the headboard of her bed, gasping and holding the shank at the ready, expecting to see his smug face behind her, only to be met with an empty space.

She sat there, tense with anxiety and her skin alive with that same sensation of being numb and electrified at the same time, waiting for something to happen. She never let her guard down once during the entire time she sat there, though for how long she didn’t know. That seemed to be a common thing that kept happening, not being able to keep track of how much time had passed. Her breath became ragged as she waited, her fear and anxiety growing with each passing moment as whatever was in store for her next was delayed, she noted that her blood pressure must be through the roof with the mounting tension and how hard her heart was thumping in her chest.

_Thu-thump._

_Thu-thump._

 

Nothing happened, all was quiet; everything was as still as it had been a few minutes ago. Nothing moved, nothing shifted; all silent, all quiet.

 

_Thu-thump._

_Thu-thump._

 

Was he playing with her now? Was that it? Letting her stew in her distress as he watched, getting off on her panic as she sat there? Where the hell was he?!

 

_Thu-thump._

_Thu-thump._

…

_Thu-thump._

_Thu-thump._

…

_Thu-thump._

_Thu-thump._

_…_

_Thu-thump._

_Thu–_

 

There was a flash of movement in her peripheral vision and she dove off the bed, rolling on the ground and slamming her back against the wall as she stood up and slashed blindly in one smooth move as she defended herself…

Against nothing.

Ellie huffed in anger, casting her eyes over her surroundings again as she looked for the source of the movement and slid down the wall to the corner of the room a little ways away from the window. She huffed as she saw nothing out of place once again. The asshole was playing with her, she knew it. He had the main course and now was just playing with his dessert, the mother –

She dove and slashed again as she saw a blur come towards her, rolling on and off the bed as she slammed herself into the opposite corner of the one she had been at, not seeing her attacker anywhere or seeing any evidence that she had hurt them. This was getting fucking _ridiculous_ now.

“Show your damned face!” she said breathlessly, her chest heaving as the adrenaline coursed through her veins and heightened her senses. Nothing answered her challenge as she shook with rage in the corner she took refuge in, incensed that she was reduced from a fuck-buddy down to a damned canary that was being tossed around for the cat’s enjoyment. “Did you hear me _asshole_?!” she cursed, “Show your _fucking_ face you _fucking_ coward so I can _fucking_ cut it _the fuck_ off!” she ground out from between her bared teeth.

Again, nothing answered her but the sound of her own breathlessness. She growled as she swore she could hear a light footstep coming from _somewhere_ , more than livid, more than pissed, more than furious at it all as the blur came back. Instead of diving she twirled out of its way, stabbing and slashing as she pinned it to the corner, taking out all of her rage, sorrow, self-loathing, _hate_ , _depression_ , loneliness, _bitterness, **anger, hate**_ -

She heard a squeal and blood splatter as she landed the killing blow.

She heaved in precious air as she tucked her head in the corner above her kill, her limbs shaking with exertion as she cried, the shank slipping from her grasp and hitting the prone figure below, bouncing off of it and landing on the floor somewhere behind her.

She jumped when she felt hands grab her upper arms and gently pull her away from her spot, turning her into a solid, clothed chest as the tears wouldn’t stop flowing, her arms like jelly by her sides.

' _Mark...?_ '

Ellie leaned forward as the strength left her beaten and bruised body, her legs finally giving out underneath her as exhaustion took over. She closed her eyes as she felt whoever it was that was with her immediately scoop her up into their arms, cradling her as she laid her head on their shoulder. She felt the world shift and move as she was carried somewhere and lowered into warm water. Ellie went in and out as she felt someone washing her, but couldn’t bring herself to push them away or object from how tired she was.

When she came to she was being carried somewhere and fully clothed again. She relished in the feeling of cotton on her skin from being naked during her ordeal with whatever was with her. She twitched as she felt the person holding her lay her down somewhere soft and warm, her head falling to the side as she slowly opened her eyes.

She jerked herself awake when she gazed upon the carnage in the corner; some kind of creature with bluish-green skin and large, iris-less eyes was slashed and hacked to kingdom come with it’s mouth open in a silent scream, it’s weapon similar to that of a Klingon bat'leth useless right next to her blood covered shank, caked in dried and flaky dark, coagulated purple blood. That same blood was pooled around it’s mangled and slashed body and plastered the walls, saturating the area with a sickening sweet smell that wafted over to her nose.

‘ _What the_ FUCK _is that?!_ ’

She whimpered aloud as the thought crossed her mind. She turned away, curling in on herself as the image of the creature was burned into her retinas. She felt a hand brush through her hair and a silky smooth voice coo at her while she was drawn up against someone’s body, trying to calm her down. What the _fuck_ was that thing? Was that what was attacking her? Did she do that _with just a fucking shank_?

Her green-blue orbs opened again as she stared at the chest obstructing her view, not needing to look up to know how was holding her at that moment; she failed in her initial goal in killing her captor, and Loki had to have known that she had wanted to kill him now after seeing the brutal way she dispatched the... thing in the corner. She shook in fear as she wondered what he would do to her for even thinking about attempting such a thing.

“Shh, _Kostlig,_ shh; you’re safe now, be calm.” He whispered, weaving his fingers through her hair again as her body shook violently; all of her pent up and compressed emotion flooded and burst through the surface as her adrenaline faded from her system again, the back of her neck and her spine seizing and tensing as her skin was overcome with an feeling of numbness and electricity all over again, this time tenfold.

The academic part of her brain registered that she was probably having a panic attack, and that she needed to calm down before she gave herself a heart attack or worse. It commanded her to sit up and put her head between her knees, taking deep breaths in through her nose and out her mouth, which was what she did with little to no resistance from Loki, surprisingly.

Ellie squeezed her eyes shut as she followed the instruction from within, feeling her pulse lessen, her heart slow, and the feeling throughout her skin, neck, and spine die away, leaving her calm and relaxed, though a little out of breath.

She let out a shaky sigh as she sat back up, her hands on her knees and her back arched as she turned her head towards the ceiling, her eyes still wound shut. She slumped again and slid down to her elbows as she covered her face with her hands, mentally collecting herself and gathering her thoughts from her frenzied state, processing everything in a cool, calm manner.

Her little episode over, she removed her hands from her face and opened her eyes, flinching slightly as her gaze found Loki kneeling right in front of her, an unreadable expression on his face once again.

She took a deep breath, “… what?” she asked as she looked into his eyes.

He stared at her in silence for a moment, “Are you alright?” he asked.

Ellie was a little shocked to see her captor worried about her mental well-being – if she was unharmed what did he care about how her mind was? – but she didn’t let it show on her face.

“I’m… fine now.” She said hesitantly, her gaze turned to the scene in the corner, “… what the _hell_ was that thing?” she asked, staring pointedly at the gore.

Loki turned to the bloody mess, “An intruder. He was sent by one of my enemies to kill me in my sleep, but before he could be caught in my trap you showed up… ” he trailed off, needing to say nothing further. He turned back to her with a hard expression, “I honestly thought you wouldn't survive. And it was a little uncalled for, stabbing me in the stomach.”

Ellie glared, too tired to do much else, “You kidnapped and _raped_ me; I had every right to try to kill you.”

Loki raised an eyebrow, “Does an ant have a right to lead an attack against your home when you destroy its mound?” Ellie’s glare turned even icier as the comment left Loki’s lips.

“I’m not a _damned_ bug with no intelligence other than providing for the Queen of the _fucking_ colony, you erroneous false _god_.” Loki’s eyes narrowed slightly at the insult as she ground out the word, “I’m part of the dominant species on this damned planet with more brains in a cell of my body than a damned _bug_ , so don’t you go comparing me to a fucking _ant_ unless you really want my foot up your god-forsaken ass that badly.”

Pissing him off after he just went out of his way to try to clean Ellie up and calm her down was probably a bad idea, but she refused to be talked down to like some kid; she didn’t think like some kind of teenage whore like the majority of her peers. Though, Loki seemed more amused than anything as he smirked at her, his eyes alight in mirth.

“How eloquently put, _Kostlig_.” Her eye twitched at the nickname.

“If you think that’s _eloquent_ just wait until you hear me fully use my _immaculate_ and _gargantuan_ vocabulary as I thoroughly and deftly gut you like a _damn_ fish.” Wow, just full of threats today? Must be suicidal enough after taking down an alien that supposedly should have wiped the floor with her, or just full of enough bravado to really not give a damn.

Loki chuckled before standing up and pushing her over, his arms pinning her by her sides as he loomed over her, “I would like to see you try without your crude weapon now that I have it; you’ll never be able to be rid of me, never be able to escape me; you’re stuck with me for the rest of your life.”

Ellie stared long and hard at him, slowly blinking after a few minutes before she grinned maniacally. Her shoulders shook as laughter bubbled up from her chest and burst through her mouth, oozing rage and instability that had Loki draw back a bit, not expecting such a reaction from his captive.

She was just full of surprises.

Her eyes closed as tears sprung forth, her bone chilling laughter filling the air and echoing in the house.

Loki glared, “What, pray tell, is so amusing?” Ellie calmed slightly at the question, giggles spilling from her lips as she calmed, and looked up at him with a wicked look in her eye; her teeth were on full view as her grin went wider and her laughter stilled.

“ _But the Lord laughs at the wicked, for He knows their day is coming…_ ”

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So… yeah… it's a drabble; oneshot; whatever. It's been in my head for a long while now, and its been haunting me for some time. It got kind of weird at the end… a little crazy, actually. Don't know If I'll go anywhere this this, so don't hold your breath. Tell me what you guys think =D
> 
> EDIT: (9/15/2014) And yes, I know of the majority agreement that Loki's eyes are green; this is part of the expansion I'm playing around with that... may or may not be coming around... dunno yet o.O


	2. Right at the Beginning

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Guess what....
> 
> I'M CONTINUING IT!

The thunder rolled and crashed that dank Thursday morning as the people of Birchwood River, North Carolina went about their day. One of these people drove a rough-around-the-edges, Black 2007 Toyota Yaris. And was a full five minutes behind schedule.

Not the best start to the morning before work.

This person in particular was named Ariel Jasmine Fionne – pronounced _fe-ohn,_ thank you very much; born February 5th, 1995 to an Angelina Dinah and Joseph Fionne. Though, her maiden name at the time was her mother’s; a detail she rectified later on in her life, for reasons of her own. Most of her friends call her Ellie.

Five foot four, brown hair with lots of red in it, peacock eyes, pale skin, strange sense of humor, and features favoring European, middle eastern, and splatters of possibly Indian descent; all of it sitting upon a canvas of a heart-shaped face and an elegant neck that smoothed into a body that was a cross between a hour glass and athletic. One thing that most didn't know but had a deep suspicion of, was that she had one hell of a rage when provoked. Mostly a transient for her entire life at the hands of her mother, this person had no childhood friends; no one outside of her family that knew her past four years at the most, actually. The lifestyle of constant change and chaos was a familiar, and unwelcome one. Definitely so with someone who had her condition.

 _Asperger Syndrome_.

Social and some motor function impairment, insistent need to plan everything out to the last minute, freak outs when the carefully constructed plan is screwed with, serious aversion to touch, photographic-like memory and thought process, and the plethora of other issues varying from ADHD like symptoms and beyond.

Surprisingly, she was quite high-functioning for her condition. She hadn’t grown out of it, not by a long shot, but she’d learned how to control it… somewhat.

Said condition was actually making her anxiety over the delay in her schedule go to the Nth extreme, to the point now that she was fuming in her little car as she sped down the little back-highway towards the McDonald’s she stopped at every morning to get something to eat, loathing to try to eat anything at the house for fear of disturbing the _missus_.

No, not her mother.

The woman she thought of now was her step mother; the exact opposite, yet the same as her mother. Same minds, different methods. 

One was aggressive and sloppy; the other passive aggressive, and a clean freak.

Actually, more than a freak. More than Anal.

The woman has to take a shower when she wakes up, has to wipe down every surface when she returns home with Antibacterial cleaner – no matter if someone has already done so just a few minutes beforehand – and must take a shower before relaxing.

And then she does whatever cleaning she deems needs to be done, which means full-on deep cleaning of the house that must be done _perfectly_ and not leave a _single_ crumb, not a single _drop_ of water, or dust, or fly-away strand of fabric, or small hair behind for her magnifying glass to see.

When she’s all done with that, she relaxes.

But before she can sleep, she takes another shower. 

Needless to say, she doesn’t like little Ellie _at all_.

Well, the feelings were mutual, because Ellie never liked her. Not since the first time she heard the woman’s voice on the phone when her identity was a mystery to her. To be honest, Ellie still wished it was like so because then the woman wouldn’t be in her life and turning her Father against her. She wouldn’t have been in this situation if she had told her Father from the start that she never liked her step mother, but oh well.

Ellie scoffed as she turned left at the intersection, the little green arrow giving her the go-ahead. ‘ _It’s ironic; I’m named after a Disney princess and I have a stereotypical Evil Stepmother to boot. God has a sense of humor, to be sure._ ’

Sense of humor, indeed. Cruel and dark, but a sense of humor nonetheless.

Anyway, because of said woman’s OCDness Ellie could never ever prepare or eat anything in that house without the woman jumping down her throat, so now she was being forced to having to go out and buy cheap junk food that was no doubt wrecking her body. Not like she had much of a choice, Part-time jobs don’t pay much.

Besides, she couldn’t have found much more than that anyway, given her lack of experience and the current state of the economy forcing business owners to resort to their staff being eighty percent part time. Little to none full time jobs were available, and most would have laughed at her if she had tried to apply.

Ellie wanted to throw her two cents at the idiot who was driving _forty-five_ on a busy highway, which was a _fifty-five_ mile-an-hour zone; she was going a full ten miles under the speed limit! And it was barely _drizzling_ , just so you know, not like it was raining like Niagara Falls or something.

Ellie honked her horn at the silver Honda Accord in front of her, “OI! Get your butt moving, asshole! _It’s not even fucking raining that hard!_ ” she yelled as she got close to the other driver’s bumper.

She may be working out her aggression while driving. Probably not the best idea, but if anyone followed her and tried something whenever she’d get where she was going, they were gonna have a face-full-of-Mace and an-elbow-to-the-face combo with their name on it.

She honked one more time before she quickly looked beside and behind her car, checking to see if the lane was clear. Happy that it was, she flipped on her signal and quickly darted to the left lane; and _floored it_.

As expected, the Accord was trying to box her out. How cute, seeing as her car was so light it got up to speed much faster, which meant that the Accord had no chance of keeping her out. And it didn’t, which brought a smug smirk to her face, especially when she saw the person driving the car that was once in front of her.

The woman in question was a grease-raisin-roll wrapped in faded, dirty whites and had pink rollers. And when she meant that the woman was a roll, she meant it. The woman looked like she could barely fit in the driver’s seat, and was covered in so much filth, deep wrinkles, and had such a gleam to her skin it was clearly obvious that this woman did not even bathe much, and had probably had borrowed the car from a much better-off person.

Or had come into money and decided to buy it. Or was renting it somehow.

Or stole it.

One of them would work.

The woman looked like she was screaming obscenities and kept making rather rude gestures, but all it did was make Ellie cackle evilly. She got a kick out of messing with people like the woman behind her; white-trash garbage, which she held no true love for. Well, just enough to not let them die if she could do anything about it.

A few miles later Ellie turned off the major highway and onto the little side-alley that connected the parking lot of a Walmart to several other establishments, where she breathed a little sigh of relief when she looked at her clock on her dashboard and noted that she had made up the five minutes lost to her Father taking too long in the bathroom.

Got to love it when mold invades your house and you got to rip up the whole bottom floor of the house, which only leave _one_ bathroom in the entire house, which is shared by three people whose schedules conflict once or twice a week. And being told that your first job isn’t important because you’re not paying any of the bills or anything of note, so your performance for said job is unimportant.

You know, her Father’s job at Farmer’s Jack when he was her age was important, why not hers? Was it because she was a _girl_ –

Ellie slammed on her brakes as a van quickly backed out of a parking spot without looking, barely avoiding getting a Yaris as a bumper sticker.

Her horn blared.

The man in the van turned and glared.

The color drained from his face when he saw the beyond-murderous look on Ellie’s.

Her horn shrieked again.

And he pulled back in, allowing her to pass.

Ellie huffed as she pulled into the drive-through, rolling down her hand-crank window with her order in mind and her card in her hand.

Yes ladies and gents, a _hand crank_. And there isn’t any cruise control either, just bare minimal accessories; six disc CD player, charger port, and AUX port were the only superfluous things on the car. But, she got thirty-five to the galleon in the city, and got forty on the highway. She wasn’t complaining.

“ _Welcome to McDonald’s; would you like to try our Pumpkin Spice Latte today?_ ” came the feminine voice in the speaker box.

The last part didn’t register to Ellie, her reflex to decline whatever was being offered coming second nature to her now. “No thank you; I’d like a number eleven with a small Pumpkin Spice Latte.”

Ellie couldn’t help but wince when she realized her error, and imagined the voice on the other side of the box feeling annoyed at the dialogue. If it was there, it didn’t show in the voice. She was told her total and drove up to the first window, noting that the man behind the register was not the one from the box.

And she noticed that she went completely off-topic in her mental rant a little bit in the beginning.

After paying for her food and driving away – making sure they got it right this time – she made her way to her job in earnest now, placing the coffee in a cup holder that with a push on its surface flipped open in a smooth, even pace like a display case.

She never got tired of that.

Where was she? Oh, right. Her inability to get a full time job and being basically told that her job that was going to define the rest of her working career for the rest of her life wasn't important. And she was drawing comparisons between her job now and her Father’s first job, and possibly was about to go off on a rant.

Which she would not do.

As she pulled into her spot in front of her job and tore into her McGriddle, she couldn’t help but notice her sixth sense of _some kind of shit is going to hit the fan_ go off like an alarm bell as she watched the clouds get darker in the distance, and a solid block of rain make its way towards her.

Ellie smiled at her coworker several hours later as the woman checked her bag for any stolen items, satisfied when she found none. “Thanks for your help today, Ariel!”

Ellie closed her purse back and slung the strap over her head; never know when someone is going to try to snatch your purse. “It was no problem, see ya later!” she called over her shoulder as she made her way out the door, hearing the sentiment echoed back.

She readjusted her hood and made a beeline for her car through the pouring rain; today at the clothing store wasn’t bad, didn’t get to the part of her training they were supposed to do today but got a sizable amount of more important things out of the way. The learning of how to fold pants for corporate visits was second place when it came to shipment and moving merchandise to new spots.

Safely within the car and out of the rain, Ellie pulled out her phone. She entered in her four digit security code and pulled up her text messages, and sent one out to her Father to inquire about any housework that needed to be done before she could go anywhere.

_Ask Monica if she needs help :)_

And there he goes, trying to force two people who don’t like each other to be in close proximity to one another. Ellie rolled her eyes and texted him back that she would, all the while rolling her eyes at his blatant attempts to get the two women to like each other.

Yeah, _not_ going to happen. Not unless Nuts ‘R Us got help.

So, instead of risking another verbal criticizing for _something_ , Ellie just sent a simple text asking if there was anything her step mother needed help with.

No reply. As usual.

Ellie scoffed, the hard feeling of light contempt making the edges of her mouth twitch slightly in an attempt to smirk sardonically. She plugged her phone into her AUX port and played _The Cave_ by _Mumford and Sons_ as she put the car into reverse and backed out, and unlike the van driver from this morning she actually _paid attention_.

When she was one fourth the way back to the house, she didn’t get a reply.

Halfway, still nothing.

Three fourths and not even a whisper.

Hell, she didn’t even get that perfectly timed text when she pulled into the driveway. Again, as expected.

With a roll of her eyes, Ellie grabbed her purse and keys, left the car, and locked the driver side door. As she walked up the brick steps on the side of the house she felt her anxiety creep up on her again, her conditioned response to anyone as imbalanced as _she_ was, was kicking in full force once more. Another gift from her mother and her unsavory behavior, to put it mildly. Fight or flight instinct and all that.

Ellie unlocked the door quietly and shut it just as such behind her, and listened for any tell-tale signs of the woman’s movements. After she heard none, she proceeded to lock the door and make her way to the stairs, and felt a slight bit of irritation at the fact that she is being forced to wear shoes on the first floor because the flooring itself had been torn up in an attempt to kill the mold.

Finally making it to the stairs and removing her shoes, she stopped at the bottom step and listened. Still nothing; maybe the woman was taking a nap? Ellie shrugged, not willing to find out she went straight up to the second floor – and noticed that the door to the spare room being used by aforementioned parents was closed, then to her room on the other side of the small hallway.

She ignored the little twinge of irritation; she was just keen on just relaxing and focused on easing away the tension being in close proximity with her step mother caused, so she was going to avoid her as much as possible.

Ellie shook off her wet jacket – it was still pouring outside – and hung it up on one of the open sliding doors on her closet. Pulling off her socks and work clothes, she replaced them with her pajamas and undid her hair. Walking around to the side of her bed, she grabbed two pillows pushed to the floor and laid them underneath the one she slept on.

She crawled into bed under the covers, taking her laptop with her and opening it once she was settled. As it was booting up she reached over the side and grabbed her purse, pulling out a long strip of violet fabric; silk. Rough on one side, smooth on the other.

She still wasn’t quite sure if it was cheap fabric or not, or even what it was originally meant for seeing as the edges had been sewed. Maybe it was once a silk scarf or something similar a long time ago, that went with some sort of cream color outfit or something else. She wasn’t the fashion type; she didn’t even touch makeup until she had landed her retail job.

She paused. Makeup, _right_.

She placed her computer to the side and flipped the covers open, softly getting off her bed and heading to the bathroom. She opened the top right drawer, and extracted a makeup remover cloth from the blue packaging of the _Neutrogena Makeup Remover._ She brought it to her face and shut her eyes, then scrubbed at the eye makeup that always was a fight to remove.

After a few pauses and peeks, then a general wipe over her entire face – she wiped it again with a second one, just in case – to remove the foundation, blush, and other things applied to her face that morning. She wrinkled her nose at her complexion; blackheads _covered_ her cheekbones, nose, and chin. Redness from the acne tinted her chin, cheeks, and forehead.

She resisted the urge to start popping the little buggers and reminded herself that in due time she would have the proper products to clear her face of the problem, she just had to get all of the makeup first. Then get the rest; she had to look good for her job. Well, as good as she could anyway.

Yes, she had a self-esteem issue. Yes, she honestly doesn’t like herself; it’s more of a personality and history problem than her looks, to be sure.

Unwilling to go down that particular dark thought, Ellie pushed it aside and left the bathroom. Crawling back into her bed and returning to her laptop, she willed the outside world to go away and put in one of her ear-buds. An A Capella version of _Gollum’s Song_ by a talented _Peter Hollens_ filtering to her ear.

She grunted and clicked the next song button, again, not wanting dark thoughts in her head at the moment. After several songs of a darker taste, she just brought up Youtube and played some Drunk Minecraft in the background.

Drunken Markipiler and friends always did put her in a better mood; she pulled up her Word document, and got to work.

Or would have if her computer’s lid hadn’t been shut on her and almost smash her finger tips.

She froze as she looked straight ahead and saw no one in the room with her. Which, understandably scared her a little bit since, you know, _laptop lids don’t close by themselves._

Ellie carefully put the laptop to the side, and slowly pulled back the covers again. She got to her feet, looking around cautiously as the hairs on the back of her neck stood straight up, her shoulders and upper back tensing as the alarm bells of her sixth sense went off in her head. She wrapped her strip of fabric around her arm, went for her purse and grabbed the Mace and her cellphone, not wanting to be completely defenseless and had her fingers poised to call the police.

Seeing nothing in her room and open closet, she left them and looked into the hallway. The room which currently housed her Step-mother and Father was wide open, which was disconcerting since it was closed when she had went to the bathroom last and had heard no footsteps or doors opening since then, which was about five minutes ago.

As she look out the window on the wall opposite of the door and a little to the right, she noted that the light coming from the window was too bright to see through, it’s whiteness giving her a feeling of isolation and entrapment.

The laptop lid had set off the alarm bells, and the light was just making them blare even louder now.

 _Thump_.

She quickly spun around and pointed her Mace blindly, but held off on pulling the trigger, which she was glad she did because then she would have painted the carpeting with irremovable green pepper spray. Her eye twitched in agitation before she slowly backed into the room and to the closet, reaching out with one hand for a gun case that held a Glock .380 pistol, locked and loaded.

Gun in hand, she put the Mace in her right back pocket of her pajamas and pointed the gun out in front of her. Worried because she never fired a gun before, even as she recalled a few pieces of advice she picked up from various sources when she was researching for a book she was writing.

_Don’t lock your elbows, keep your finger off the trigger unless to intend to fire; hang on tight to the gun so it doesn’t flip out of your hand when it recoils, don’t let it go to the left when it fires, hold it steady. Aim down the sights, the rear sight should align with the front; the front should be aimed a little below your target. Keep it downrange so you don't accidentally shoot someone, keep your finger flat to the trigger guard, keep your fingers clear of the firing hammer or slider; Don't pull the trigger, squeeze it; time your breathing with the firing of the gun. Follow through when you fire; don't lose your stance or waver from your target._

_Don’t point a gun at someone or squeeze the trigger unless you’re willing to kill_.

The last one was, understandably, the most important point of how to handle a gun.

She walked back into the hallway and checked the bathroom, cleared it – and noted that the light was in the bathroom window as well, then went back to her room which was also vacant and held the same light in its windows. It was a strange light, like one would see in a dream.

Standing at the top of the stairs, she slowly and quietly made her way downstairs; she kept the gun pointed into the room as she slipped on her shoes and took a step out onto the bare subfloor of the first floor.

She noted with an uneasy feeling that the light from upstairs was in the windows downstairs too, definitely more alert than before, and a little worried that her gun would do little to nothing to whatever was going on here.

She cleared the kitchen, dining room, and the living room, which left just the master bedroom. Steeling her nerve, she went down the hallway and past the laundry closet, her breath quiet and slow but her heart beating hard in her chest as she took each step forward.

The bedroom door was shut, and the one leading into the bathroom was wide open. Stepping into the open doorway, she assessed that the room was vacant of others as well. She narrowed her eyes at the blank space on the wall where a door leading into the room should have been, her instincts screaming at her to _run_.

She ignored them, bringing herself to the master bedroom door. With her right hand holding the gun out, she reached out with her left and carefully twisted the knob. After the bolt was drawn back into the door, she gently pushed it open.

To reveal _nothing_ but that bright light.

_What the hell?_

“It’s time, young one.”

She jumped and spun on her heel.

A dark shadow with it’s features hidden smiled, it’s teeth gleaming white and visible from the blackness.

She fired.

It dodged.

She fired at it again.

It pushed her through the door.

She screamed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The chapters will be updated sporadically as I write them up; I've got a lot of personal things going on that keep getting in my way, but I shall prevail!


	3. I've Gone Where no Fangirl has Gone Before

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Out of the House of the Twilight Zone and into... where exactly?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I told you I'd get it out *insert emoticon here*. Anyway, things are staring to heat up for our main character now as she's dumped from her world and into the world of the MCU! Now, things will be going off canon now since obviously the presence of Ellie changes things up. How much? Only time will tell...
> 
> *Insert evil, maniacal laughter here*
> 
> See what I did there? In the summary? Huh? _Huh?_ A cookie to those who do!

Ellie groaned as she rolled to one side, her back on fire from landing on whatever hard surface she was on currently. She blinked her eyes open and closed at the bright light before her eyes started to adjust, noting that the offending surface was a grey marble floor.

She got to her knees, then felt the sudden urge to retch as the world began to spin.

 _Oh…_ _well_ that’s _lovely_.

A possible concussion; just what she needs right now when she wakes up in a strange place with her gun, mace, and phone nowhere to be found. She quickly leaned over with her forehead to the floor, the cold surface a welcome sensation against her heated skin and swimming mind. At least her comfort object was still wrapped securely around her arm.

“ _…ung woman whom has materialized in your living room without the suit?_ ” said a posh voice quietly, seemingly coming from somewhere to Ellie’s right.

“Jarv, does she look like a threat to you?”

“ _The waitress at the convention where you were kidnapped did not look threatening._ ” Came the matter-of-fact reply.

A grunt of annoyance. The slow approach of footsteps.

They stopped a few feet away.

“Hey, uh, you still alive there?”

Ellie wrinkled her eyebrow, why did this man sound so familiar?

She tried to raise her head, but groaned when the dizziness returned, and with it the nausea. Ellie quickly put her head back down as she started to cough and clamped a hand over her mouth to prevent anything from escaping, feeling the bile tickle at the back of her throat.

The man cursed, “Jarv, does she have a concussion or something? She can’t seem to lift her head.” Warm hands came out of thin air and landed on her shoulder, and she had to stop herself from tensing up at the unexpected touch.

“ _She seems to have sustained no injuries to her head, but will possibly be nauseous for the next few hours until her fever comes down. She has sustained minor bruising to her back; the latter from the fall most likely._ ”

The hands slowly positioned themselves underneath her left arm and gently lifted her from the floor, the little swirls in the dots of the blackness of her closed eyes that resulted from the movement did not make her feel any better. “Jeez, she’s hotter than a furnace right now; Jarv, we got any ibuprofen or something?”

The man continually exchanged words with the posh voice as he went, though the words were lost to her as she concentrated on _not_ throwing up; as he lead her forward her feet were unsteady at times and she was close to the edge of vomiting all over the place, but Ellie defiantly kept the contents of her stomach down. She was thankful when he came to a stop.

“Alright, turn around and sit down- _easy,_ easy does it.” He whispered as he guided her down onto a soft, leather couch. He gently pushed her down onto her side, where she curled her legs up and brought her hands up to her chest, shivering slightly as the cool air started to seep through her skin.

“ _Sir, it appears that her fever is going down without any medical attention; it has went from 101.5 to_ _100.8_ _in the past minute, and should continue to fall until she stabilizes._ ” She shivered, “ _I advise retrieving a blanket to keep her system from going into shock from her temperature dropping too quickly._ ”

“Right; Jarvis, can you look up who this per…”

The rest of the words went away as Ellie slipped in and out of consciousness, vaguely registering a blanket getting draped over her, and later on, other voices joined the first two; all of which sounded so _familiar_. Where had she heard them before?

And why were there three sets of footsteps for four voices?

After a few touch-and-go moments, she started to finally arouse to full awareness and the voices came in clearer. “..ony, she just appeared out of nowhere in the middle of your living room, in nothing but her pajamas, nauseous to the point of unconsciousness with an extremely high fever, and you don’t consider this an 084 for S.H.I.E.L.D to worry about?” came a droll female voice, with a light Russian accent.

“She’s just a kid, Romanov. And completely human too; Jarvis did a scan.” Said the man that helped her onto the couch.

“Thor looks like a man in his late twenties, early thirties and is well over a couple thousand years old. Even then, she could be a Gifted human who lost control of her powers, and you would have been caught in the crossfire if her powers had gone off again.”

A sigh.

“Jarvis didn’t detect any anomaly; she’s completely normal, well, as normal can be when she just randomly appears in my living room like a fucking magician. Or like Rudolf.”

"Gifted or not, she’s here and we don’t know who she is or where she comes from. And don’t forget, Thor came here reading as human too before he became Asgardian again, Tony.” Said another, more authorative mezzo-bass.

A sigh. “Look guys, I really appreciate the concern, but I’m _Tony Stark_ ; I can handle myself.”

Ellie flew straight up as if someone had shot a gun off.

Tony Stark? Jarvis? S.H.I.E.L.D?

Rudolf? _Thor_?

 _No **frigging** way_.

Movement to her right drew her attention; the iconic brunette with the sculpted goatee, tousled short hair, denim pants, and a black Sabbath shirt was sprawled out on the floor, startled from her sudden movement. He stared at her as if she had tried to take a bite out of him. She locked her green lake eyes onto his startled honeyed brown.

_Ho- **ly** Shit._

Tony Stark quickly got to his feet and brushed off some imaginary dust as he glared at the other two in the room, “You saw nothing.”

Said other people didn’t even seem register what he said, the red head female in a defensive stance to the left, while the blonde was in his own to the right; both dressed in typical pedestrian clothing.

Natasha Romanov. Steve Rodgers. Tony Stark.

No one moved. Not for a long time.

“… the _hell_?” were the first words that came out of Ellie’s mouth.

Words that made Steve have a confused expression on his face – Natasha was as readable as flat stone – and Tony just crossed his arms and looked at her, his expression slightly amused. Ellie raised an eyebrow of her own.

“What? Were you expecting Emperor Palpatine or something?” She remarked as she swung her legs over the edge of the couch.

Tony snorted, Natasha’s lips quivered, and Steve just looked more confused.

“Emperor Palpatine?” Asked the blonde.

“That’s one hell of an ice breaker; did you come up with that by yourself?” Tony asked, ignoring Steve's query.

“No, I pulled it out of _Ice Breakers: Star Wars Edition_ –” Ellie rolled her eyes, “What do you think?”

_Way to smart off to the people who could very easily kill you._

Tony snickered and raised his hands defensively, while Steve just looked between the two brunettes with even more confusion.

“ _Star Wars_ is a movie franchise, Spangles.” Tony said airily, “Emperor Palpatine was the main bad guy. And the book _Ice Breakers_ doesn’t exist.”

Steve nodded his understanding, and glared slightly at Tony for the tone; he relaxed slightly as Ellie became less of a threat at the banter she shared with eccentric billionaire. Though he was still tense, ready to jump into action if she made any sudden moves.

“Who are you?” Natasha asked Ellie as she stood normally, though Ellie knew that the assassin could break her neck in the blink of an eye if she tried anything.

"Ariel. Ariel Fionne; though, I'll pretty sure you won't be able to pull me up on the internet..."

"Yeah, about that," Tony fixed her with a suspicious glare as he crossed his arms, "Mind telling me how I can't even pull up a blurred traffic photo of you from the million and a half cameras my buddy Jarvis has access to?"

Ellie bit her lip.

She was at an impasse.

Either tell them the truth - that she comes from another universe that they exist in as only characters in a comic book franchise - or blatantly lie to them and run into many complicated problems later, which would happen _when_ the truth came out. Because there was no question of _If_ in these types of scenarios.

So, now or later?

_Now. Definitely now._

"I, uh, I don't think you'd believe me if I told you the truth..."

"We had an alien dressed up in green leather spouting he was going to be king of the world and proceeded to open up the fifth dimension and rain hellfire in the form of an alien invasion on Manhattan, all because he has Daddy issues and an exquisite inferiority complex." Tony said in a matter-of-fact tone, "Try us."

Ellie sighed.

"The short end of it; I'm from another universe."

Silence.

"A universe where you... May or may not exist as _completely_ yourselves."

More silence.

"You know... Like a... Correlation between Character and... Actor?"

 _More_ silence.

"Correlation between Character and Actor...?" Steve questioned.

Ellie swore mentally as she cursed her poor choice of words, her Autism making it that much harder to put what she wanted to say into the proper string of words. Beating around the bush was never her specialty.

Ellie sighed.

"Fuck it; I'm from a parallel universe where you guys aren't real and you’re just characters from a franchise."

...

The first thing to happen thing was slow blinking of the Tony Stark; another was the blank stare of Steve Rodgers, and the last was the disbelieving eyebrow raising of Natasha Romanov... If that was her true name anyway.

"A parallel universe...? Franchise characters...?" Said a speedily recovered Billionaire, "You know, despite the crazy things I've seen and the little firework show you gave when you warped here, the ' I'm from a parallel universe and you're fictional characters where I'm from' explanation is stretching it a bit wouldn't you say..."

Ellie blinked.

"Besides, you got any proof that you really are from a parallel universe?" Tony challenged.

Ellie sighed.

_Ultimate creep factor; go!_

"When Yinsen died he told you, Tony, to not waste your life."

Tony froze in place, his sardonic air and skepticism vanishing in a moment as his posture became stiff.

"Steve, the last thing you said before went into the ice was that you weren't going to make it to the Flamingo Club to have that dance with Peggy Carter."

Steve's face went stony as the bitter memory surfaced and played behind his eyes once more, like it had so many times after his resurrection from his cold, icy bed.

"And Loki _politely_ called you a cunt, Agent Romanov."

Her eyebrow swiftly lowered itself.

And all three Avengers stared at her in a mix of dread, alarm, and awe. All with the same thought swimming in their mind...

_How did she know that?_

Ellie just leaned back on the couch and placed her hands in her lap as she regarded all three of them with a look of expectation.

"Do you believe me now?"

\------

Ellie sighed; maybe it would have been better to lie and keep her origins a secret. Otherwise she wouldn't be in her current position right now;

Under extreme watch in the glass prison that was the _Hulk_ _Cage_ of all things.

She blew a puff of air at a strand of hair that tickled her nose, bored and irritated at her circumstances. Bored because they didn't even give her a frigging magazine. Irritated because they distrusted her enough to throw her _into the Hulk Cage._

**_The Hulk Cage._ **

While it was a compliment to her ability to be intimidating – she _thinks_ so anyway – it was an insult to her character, treating her like... Well, like Loki.

To be honest, she would react the same way if someone came to her and told her about a very personal and private moment in her life that _only_ she would know, and had just randomly appeared in her house like a ghost. In fact, she'd put them in a precarious position and then force them to tell her exactly how they came across that piece of information _you creepy son of a bitch_.

...

"Yeah, their reaction is warranted," Ellie grumbled angrily, "But that doesn't mean I have to like it."

She took another deep breath and stood, as she began to walk another slow circuit around the edges of her confines she eyed the retractable plates just beyond the thick glass of her cage that would drop her sorry rump into the ocean from several thousand feet up.

Nothing like being a button away from death to put certain things into perspective; like her idiocy in telling them the truth about her origins. Her biggest and most stupid mistake to date, and that trumps even her horrible idea to move in with her estranged Father and Stepmother- whom she never liked in the first place. Had to be pretty big to accomplish that, and accomplish it, it did.

At least they gave her a change of clothes – which consisted of a plain grey T-Shirt, denim jeans, and white socks – and tennis shoes.

Ellie had completed her slow walk around the cage when the speakers in her cell came to life.

" _Ms. Fionne, I hope you know why you're here._ " Came a familiar Professional rumble.

"Director Coulson; nice to finally meet you. Though, I hoped it would be under better circumstances and in my dreams, you know, for the sake of my sanity at the time. But, I guess I _was_ insane after all." Ellie greeted cheerily as she sat down on the bench in the enclosure. Her green blue eyes focused upon the figure of the Resurrected Agent-turned-Director.

All business and staring contests. As usual.

Ellie leaned back and waved a hand through the air, "I'm here because I'm a potentially dangerous 084, and until you can determine whether or not I'm gonna kill anything and everything I have to stay in this _itty bitty_ living space. Oh, and the Geneva Convention doesn't apply to me until I'm verified to be human."

Ellie's hand plopped back on her lap as she finished her little recap of the reasoning behind her imprisonment. She couldn't help it if her voice had an edge to it.

Phil didn't even blink. Had to be Sky's doing.

"Good, glad I don't have to waste time explaining it all to you."

Ellie shrugged, "Never been much of a waster of other people's time. It all has to do with my impeccable character, I assure you."

Phil just smiled professionally, "I bet it does." The Director pulled his arms from behind his back to reveal a very thin folder. "Name: Ariel Jasmine Fionne; unknown origins, unknown background. In fact, _everything_ about you is unknown. Even when you gave us your social security no name popped up–”

“Which is what I said would happen.”

“That you did, but the point is that you don’t exist anywhere; not even our contacts in the… _abnormal_ can tell who you are. In fact, they tell us that you really didn’t even come from our Universe–”

“As I said.”

Phil gave a barely-there sigh of frustration, probably from also having to deal with Sky, “Yes, you did. What we all want to know is _what_ you’re here for, _how_ you got here, and _why_ you were so forthcoming in your admittance that you were an unknown.” He said as he looked up from the folder and stared at Ellie through the glass.

Ellie blinked. Then snorted.

“If I told you that I had no idea _how_ or _why_ I was here, would you believe me?”

Coulson didn’t even miss a beat.

“We might; you’ve been cooperative so far and haven’t caused any problems. But forgive us for being a little jumpy, you know, since you randomly popped up in the living room of one of the Avengers and then proceeded to tell him plus two others about some of the most private moments of their lives.” He stated as he closed the folder and crossed his arms behind his back again.

Ellie shrugged, “It’s no problem; honestly, if someone did that to me I’d literally twist their arm off until they spilled all of their dirty little secrets if someone popped up like me and pulled what I did.” The brunette turned her eyes up to the ceiling, “As for the last question, I thought it would be better to be up front with you rather than hide it; I have read many a story where the lead role has hid it from the characters and had it backfire on them horribly…”

“So to avoid that you were honest about who you were and where you came from?” Coulson asked.

“Pretty much.”

Coulson stared at her for a moment, his dark hazel eyes seemingly decryptive as he tried to ascertain the content of her character. The famous Coulson-Soul-Stare as Ellie affectionately referred that look to every time she had seen it on an episode of _Marvel: Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D_. was turned full force on her now, and to say that it almost made her twitch was an understatement.

She just stared when he quickly turned on his heel and disappeared into the darkness. Ellie turned her head away from the place Coulson had occupied and just stared at the ceiling once more. As she stared at the bleach colored paint she wonder why she always seemed to have the worst luck in life–

When the door to her prison opened.

Ellie looked through the opening to see that the lights in the prisoner bay she was in slowly brighten up the area, and spied Director Coulson standing at the end of the catwalk expectedly. Suspicious, Ellie slowly rose from her seat and stepped towards the open doorway. She glanced critically at the frame, her slight paranoia making her search for any booby traps.

Coulson chuckled, “I assure you if we wanted to harm you we would have done it by now.”

Ellie, only slightly comforted by the sentiment, hesitantly trod her left foot forward.

And felt foolish when nothing happened.

“I blame my paranoia for that one.” She muttered smartly as she went through the door normally and walked down the catwalk to stand in front of the Director... and three armed guards that came out of nowhere. She turned to him, “What made you change your mind about me?” she asked, curious and completely ignoring the beefy guys staring at her.

He just smiled politely, “It’s easier to see if you’re foe or not by actually giving you some legroom to move about; and, let’s just say I have a gut feeling that you’re telling the truth.”

Ellie’s eyes tightened, “The same gut feeling you had with Ward?”

Coulson paused for a moment, then continued onward like as if what she said was normal, “My gut feelings aren’t always right, but they’re rarely wrong.”

Ellie nodded in agreement and paused, then chuckled, “I’m not really helping my case by mentioning stuff like that, huh?”

Coulson frowned thoughtfully and raised his eyebrows, “Actually, you’re helping your case more than hurting; a good spy tries to avoid drawing parallels to their situation so as to not draw suspicion on themselves.” He grinned at her, “And to be frank, you suck at that.”

Ellie huffed, “Well, excuse me; I never got trained to be a world-class spy unlike you and Agent Red-head Badass.”

Coulson snorted and a guard walked in front of Ellie, “I would count that as a point in your favor for now.”

Ellie’s eyebrow twitched as she watched the nameless S.H.I.E.L.D agent, “I wonder just how many points I _do_ have in my favor right now.” She muttered quietly to herself. “Like to know where I stand in all this.” She blinked when the agent procured a blindfold out of nowhere.

“Security procedures; not a part of S.H.I.E.L.D, can’t see the attractions.” Coulson said matter-of-factly from behind her.

Ellie shrugged, “It’s cool; can’t be too careful with all of this weird nonsense going on right now.” She said as Coulson tied the blindfold into place. She scrunched her nose as a thought occurred to her, “Actually, mind telling me what’s been going on? Last I knew you guys had figured out how to stop your... unusual hobby.”

She jumped as an unseen hand gently took hold of her arm and began to lead her forward, “It’s been five months since then; we ran into some trouble with Hydra and were saved by Stark at the last minute three months ago. After he found out who we were he’s been secretly helping us out by giving us some needed funds.”

Ellie grunted as she struggled her way up some stairs, “I bet Tony was surprised to see you alive.”

She heard Coulson chuckle from her left, “He had a one liner prepared, ‘Knew you’d be too annoying to kill that easily.’”

Ellie rolled her eyes beneath the blindfold, “Leave it to him to make a person feel loved.”

“To be fair, he’s never liked me.”

They ran out of stairs and began walking forward again, “Maybe that had something to do with your infatuation with Captain Sparkles?”

A pause. “Never thought of that; I always thought my sparkling personality was to blame.”

They turned left down a corner, “Maybe it was both?”

“Possibly.”

Their conversation ended at that, the walk towards wherever they were going needing her attention more than conversing with her personal hero, seeing as one misstep would send her sprawling all over the staircases that they frequently encountered.

Ellie was jerked backwards as they came to a stop, not expecting the sudden halt in the fast pace of the marching guards. A door squeaked open and she was pulled forward again, then blinked when she felt the warm rays of the sun hit her skin as she stepped onto what felt like a smooth runway beneath her feet, and wind whipping at her clothes and hair. She kept her guard up this time and didn’t get jerked back again when they stopped.

“I hope you know what you’re getting yourself into; by us handing her over to you, you claim all responsibility for her actions good or bad, right?”

“Agent– Sorry, _Director_ , I do read and sign paperwork even though I’m not a CEO anymore.” Ellie perked up at the familiar voice, “Besides, I’m Tony Stark; I can take whatever weird magical voodoo this young woman can dish out.”

Ellie huffed, “I don’t have any magic voodoo to spew; I don’t even touch that stuff because of _bloody demons_ popping up and saying ‘Hi’ every time you do, thank you very much.” She snarked quietly.

“I heard that.” Tony responded in kind.

“I’m surprised you could; your hearing is supposed to start taking a nose dive after you hit forty.”

One of the guards chuckled, but quickly snuffed it out. Probably because Tony was glaring at him.

Coulson chuckled, “Seems like you two were made for each other; have fun.”

The hand disappeared, and a metal arm snaked it’s way around her sides.

 _'Oh, he is_ not _going to do what I’m thinking he’s going to do…_ ’

She heard a metal _clank_ , “ _I plan to._ ” Came the electronic voice of Tony Stark from in front of her as she was pulled into a metal chest.

And then she heard her own screams as he blasted off into the sky with her in tow.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Also, sorry that short chapter is short. The others will be _much_ longer, I swear :)


	4. Evening Dresses and Web Browsing

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the hi-jinks of the early morning, it is time for some downtime for our Heroine to orient herself in her new life. Starting with some new dresses...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Kind of filler, but it is necessary. Why? Well...
> 
> I think you guys can figure it out on your own :D

Ellie caught her breath as she collapsed onto the surface of whatever sweet, sweet thing that Tony landed on. High speed rollercoaster rides with ridiculous amounts of G-Force? Count her in.

Flying around without any safety precaution or even the ability to see?

Hell no.

She heard a metallic scoff and the _clank_ and _clunk_ of Tony as he walked forward, presumably to remove his suit via the highly-flashy removal matrix thing he set up in every one of the houses he owned that had a lab built into it. “All that snark and no stomach.”

She growled, “You try flying blindfolded through loops, cork screws, sudden drops, and listen to your pilot cackle like a mad man and see how you fair compared to me.” She got to her knees then stood on firm feet, not willing to take a step with the blindfold still in place.

She stood there as the wind whipped at her form, the sunlight bearing down on her shoulders and preventing the wind from chilling her _too_ much, wondering if she should wait for Tony to remove the blindfold or if she should remove it herself.

A set of footsteps.

“You just going to stand there and freeze kid, or are you going to take off the blindfold and come in?” Ellie twitched, then reached behind her head to loosen the knot on the blindfold as she slowly moved towards the spot where she heard the billionaire’s voice come from. When the fabric fell away Ellie blinked as she walked into the penthouse of Tony’s New York home… well, Avenger’s Tower now.

Tony himself was just leaning on one foot and had his arms crossed, his eyes regarding her as she walked past him and out of the wind. Her skin felt cold and radiated it as the warmth of the room caressed her; she rubbed her arms as she turned to him.

“Sorry, thought you were going to take it off. Standard procedure when someone’s blindfolded and all… I think.” She turned around and looked at the window that the inventor was thrown out of two or three years ago. “You’re not freaking out at the name _New York_ anymore, are you?”

Tony walked around her and towards the elevator, motioning for her to follow, “Not _as_ much, but I’m still twitchy about it– don’t pull what that kid did and say it multiple times just to get a reaction from me.” He said warningly as he directed an accusatory stare at her.

She scoffed, “I have more class than that, Mr. Stark.” She said as she followed him, crossing her arms and raising an eyebrow when she came to a stop beside him, “Besides, I can always just sick Ms. Potts on you whenever you skip a charity event or something if I feel like it. Or gang up on you with Jarvis. Or something.”

Tony rolled his eyes to a security camera in the corner, “You wouldn’t turn on me, would you buddy?”

“ _Of course not_ Sir _; I’m coded so I’m incapable of doing so unless you prove a danger to yourself and others. Though, the boundaries for such are unspecified_.” Jarvis said professionally.

Tony threw a suspicious glare, “Better not be thinking of mutiny, Jarv.”

“ _Of course not,_ Sir _._ ”

Ellie snickered.

The elevator dinged.

Tony glared at Ellie as she walked in and leaned against the railing in the stainless steel elevator, “So… what’s the terms for my imprisonment here?” ‘ _Best to get everything out in the open_.’

Tony walked in and leaned back next to her, “Well, you can’t go anywhere outside of your living area without this little beauty,” Tony help up a slim, sliver bracelet, “For starters.”

Ellie furrowed her eyebrows as she took the device from Tony’s hand and looked at it closely. “Fascinating; Home Arrest devices back in my world are not nearly as slim as this…”

Tony scoffed, “Your tech must be really backwater then.”

“We only have touch screens.” Ellie deadpanned. She turned the device over in her hands.

“ _Really_?” Tony’s voice cracked as he turned to her, “You’re _that_ behind?”

Ellie slipped on the bracelet and watched in interest as the deceptive jewelry adjusted to her wrist size comfortably. “Well, we are in the consumer products, but who knows what our government is hogging in their giant facilities with their fancy clearances…” she trailed off as she studied the metal further, the bangle innocently sitting on her thin wrist.

Tony scoffed, “Yeah, big brother likes to steal all of the toys when he can.”

“You bet he does.” Ellie said with an edge as she crossed her arms, her fascination with the device diminished; she felt a distinct urge to try to take it apart for the sake of curiosity. She glanced at him from the corner of her eyes, “Don’t like our lovely big brother much?”

“Only when he tries to take my stuff.”

Ellie nodded slowly, “Because no one is allowed to touch Mr. Stark’s stuff.” She paused, “Wait, does that mean you kind of own me now?”

Ellie gave Tony a suspicious look as he started to rub his goatee and examine her face. He hummed, “Well, I _did_ have a certain nameless organization sign you over to me for safe keeping…”

She glared, “You try to experiment on me and I will rain hellfire upon you.”

He scoffed, “Oh? How will you do that?”

She smirked, “Pepper.”

He raised an eyebrow, “Pepper?”

“Pepper.”

Silence.

“What does Pepper have to do with this?”

“She’ll bury you in paperwork; I bet the stuff you signed stated I would not be harmed intentionally by you or your associates unless I pose a serious and verifiable threat to others around me.”

Tony narrowed his eyes and leaned back, “Touché.”

Ellie smirked, “I actually know what the fine print is, Mr. Stark.”

Tony sighed, dropping the overlord act, “If you’re going to be here for a while, call me Tony. When you call me Mr. Stark I feel like my Dad.” Ellie snorted, but said nothing further as they traveled down the building. The ride was smooth and silent, but not awkward. In fact, it gave her time to reflect a little bit more.

Her current situation; she was under house arrest in a reckless and unpredictable billionaire’s home, whom could pretty much talk his way out of anything and bury the other guy in enough of either paperwork or pavement to make them see _his_ side of things. He has no shame, no dignity, and a little honor. And he’s been around the block more than a few times what with his super hero track record.

Well, she knew she didn’t pose a threat to the man; her intellect may be a little more than average but it probably didn’t even scratch the surface of Tony’s technological brilliance, and she – that she knew of – was definitely _not_ a Gifted or mutant. If mutants even existed here since this universe seemed to be the MCU, and the MCU did not have mutants. But you never know…

She could be wrong and Magneto is running amok somewhere.

It’s been five months since they found the cure to Coulson’s carving obsession which led to a giant Kree city-like thing, and Skye had become inhuman – she didn’t mention that she knew that part, protect the continuity and all that – then just disappeared off the face of the planet a few days ago and it wasn’t too easy prying that information from Coulson during their little walk, and he kept waving that “Classified” mumbo-jumbo until she whispered about how T.A.H.I.T.I. was a magical place.

That made him open up a bit.

Oh, and now Tony was silently backing them from the shadows which was definitely something that kind of went off script from the MCU things she had seen so far back home.

Still, like in Doctor Who, she would definitely count on _some_ major events from the comics repeating themselves in whatever fashion here. Ultron, The Infinity Gauntlet, Ragnarök for Asgard; the list goes on and _on_.

Ellie twitched when the elevator bell dinged, smothering the startled jump as much as she could. She ignored Tony’s questioning gaze as she walked through the open doors and into the hallway which opened up to a small living area with a love seat, two comfy chairs, a coffee table, a grey rug, and a moderate sized flat screen mounted to the wall.

All in all, it looked like a typical modern-style living room with the living room furniture – love seat in the middle, chairs on the sides – turned to the TV to her right and away from the windows taking up the whole wall she was facing. Tony moved to stand a few feet in front of her, his arm waving out to the room.

“This is the main living area of your little abode,” he pointed to somewhere on Ellie’s right, though it was obscured by a wall, “That’s your kitchen area, all sharp objects removed,” he said as he glanced at her with a knowing look.

She scoffed, “This bangle is _metal_ , Tony. There’s no way I’d cut through it, and I’m innocent so why would I try to murder you and harm my chances of walking free?”

He shrugged and turned away, “Just to be safe- and right through these doors,” he pointed to her left, “Is your bedroom and bathroom,” when she turned she saw two black doors sitting side by side.

She did a slow three-sixty, “And that’s it, right?”

Tony nodded as he walked towards the elevator doors, “Yep; food and other needed amenities is delivered via robot attendee; if you need anything call for Jarvis. And if you try to use the elevator without authorization you get a neat little surprise from the _bangle_ you’re wearing.”

Ellie twisted her wrist side to side as she figured out what kind of _surprise_ she would get, if she did try. “Kind of figured you wouldn’t just put GPS in this thing.”

The elevator dinged as Tony got close to the doors, “You know me, cautious and all.”

She snorted as he walked into the metal box, “More like _paranoid_.”

He shrugged as he turned around, “Kept me alive this long.”

She put her arms behind her back, “Being paranoid can get you killed too, you know.”

“But it hasn’t yet.”

And the metal doors closed, effectively ending the conversation.

“The key word being _yet_.” She sighed as she turned back around to view the room. She looked at the corners of the ceiling for a moment before spying a security camera, her hand twitching at the lack of sensory input from her missing purple strip of fabric she had brought with her on her eventful trip here. Seriously, how many more tests were they going to run on it and her old pajamas before they give them back? “Hey Jarvis?” she called out.

“ _Yes, Ms. Fionne?_ ” answered the posh voice of the AI.

“Were there any toiletries and such set up before Tony brought me here?” she questioned as she walked around the corner and went into the kitchen; grey counters, black concrete countertops, stainless steel appliances, and black hardwood floor.

“ _Ms. Potts had taken the liberty of getting several outfits picked out in your size and made sure that the needed supplies were delivered to your quarters ahead of time_.”

Ellie hummed, “What kind of outfits did she pick out?” she questioned as she turned on her heel and went towards the bedroom.

She turned the doorknob, “ _I believe she chose twelve different shirts and denim jeans for casual wear; five different shirts, skirts, and slacks for business attire,_ ” Ellie stepped through the doorway and into the bedroom, which had a basic queen-sized bed in dark colors of blue and black, with black Neo-Asian style headboard, dresser, and end table.

The bed was in the middle against the wall, the end table beside it on Ellie’s left, and the dresser opposite of the bed; the closet was at Elli’s leftmost outer corner and was probably no doubt a walk-in.

“ _She also procured twelve different outfits for sleepwear; and she wanted you to try on some dresses for formal wear to quote, ‘See if they look good on her._ ’” Jarvis continued as Ellie made her way to the closet.

She paused. “Wait, why did Ms. Potts buy me clothes and take time to see if something looked good…?”

“ _She was well aware of your lack of wardrobe, and thinks that the suspicions of you are highly unjust despite your dramatic entrance, and due to your forth coming nature in divulging personal information of yourself_.”

Ellie blinked. “So… she likes me because I’m honest?”

“ _As_ Sir _once said, ‘She is a human Lie Detector._ ’”

‘ _Makes sense; in order to be good at business you got to be able to know when you’re being swindled._ ’ Ellie thought as she approached the closet door.

“I hope she didn’t get me anything _too_ expensive…” Ellie mumbled as her conservative, penny-pinching side began to niggle at the thought of how much the clothes may have cost. Probably more than three of her paychecks.

“ _I’d advise to not think about it_.” Jarvis stated, “ _You may go into cardiac arrest._ ”

Ellie twitched as she opened the door and looked into the walk in closet – ‘ _I knew it’_ – but what caught her eyes were the aforementioned dresses, three in total, hanging in their plastic coverings; from the unpronounceable French name on the plastic, if she read the price tag they _would_ give her a heart attack. She took a deep breath, “Okay, don’t think about the price, don’t think about the price,

 _Don’t_ think about the price…”

She continued her mantra as she walked towards the dresses themselves and gently plucked them from the rod they hung from, folded them over her arm and walked back out. She placed them in a row on the bed and picked up the first one.

Once she removed the plastic – ‘ _I’m_ not _looking at the price tag_ ’ – the dress was a simple, black one shoulder piece that was cinched around the waist and hips.

The second one she revealed was also a simple dress, which opened up at the shoulders and neck with the neckline being slightly off-the-shoulder and wide belt snug in the waistline, and a full, flared skirt in the color of silver; the fabric felt and shined like satin.

The third was once again a simple dress (Apparently Pepper thought that print colors and Ellie were a no-go), and the dress itself reminded Ellie of the retro dresses typically found on the 1950’s sweethearts of Hollywood with the fluffy cap sleeves and sweetheart neckline, center front twist, a back split, and tasteful wrinkles on the waistline and abdomen. The color of it was a deep navy, almost black even.

Ellie stood there for a moment as she looked at them, half afraid to put them on for fear of damaging them. She jumped when she heard a knock on her door.

“Hello?” said a feminine voice from behind the dark oak, as Ellie slowly approached it, “Its Ariel, right?”

Ellie cracked the door open, then all the way when she spotted the familiar copper red hair of Pepper Potts. “Strangers and those who want to remain strangers call me that; you can call me Ellie.”

Pepper smiled, “Ellie.” The red head reached out a hand and Ellie shook it firmly, “It’s nice to see Tony left you in one piece. He can be a bit much at times…”

Ellie scoffed slightly as she stepped aside to let Pepper in, “Yeah, got firsthand experience in that one with the many stunts and maneuvers he felt compelled to perform while I was clinging for dear life to his armor.”

Pepper sighed, “He’s done it to me too, believe me.” Pepper spied the dresses on the bed, “Did you like them?”

Ellie rubbed the back of her neck, “Actually, I just pulled them out. I’m almost too afraid to try them on, you know, in case I rip something on these expensive dresses that probably cost two or three of my paychecks.”

Pepper just gave her a look.

“But I did like them, yes.” Ellie quickly answered.

Pepper grinned a little as she went over to the bed, “I’m pretty sure that they won’t fall apart the moment they touch your skin,” she grabbed the silver satin-like dress, “Try this one on, it’s my favorite of the three.”

The Redhead pushed the hangar into Ellie’s hands, the latter grasping the wood and holding the apparel up to get a better second look at it. Her eyes flickered up to Pepper’s decisive blue, then back to the dress, then they narrowed as she flipped the dress over her arm and walked out of the room with Pepper sitting down by the other two dresses.

Ellie twisted the knob to the bathroom and eased the door open, the light automatically coming on as she stepped into the not-so-tiny bathroom. As she closed the door behind her, her eyes took in the expensive surroundings.

The color scheme from the living room and kitchen were continued in here with the counter directly to her left, with a decent-sized linen closet, and the tub to her right after the closet looked big enough to seat at least four or five people in it with _Whirlpool_ jets lining the inside of it and silver hardware.

The floor was a smooth, swirling slab of white and grey polished concrete which led to a Stand-up shower that looked like it could house six people comfortably in it next to the counter, with the toilet in its own room butted up against the tub. Never in all of her life did she ever expect to be a regular user of such amenities; of course, she never expected to meet the _Avengers_ of all things, but life is weird like that.

She walked forward and hung the dress on the towel rack to her right, and stripped herself free of her shirt and pants. Turning to the dress in nothing but her underwear and bra, she grasped the dress and pulled it off its hangar, then loosened the belt on the waist line. She reached up and pulled down the zipper down between the leather and the fabric, then let it pool on the floor a bit as she stepped into the extended opening.

Ellie then slipped the expensive fabric over her skin, slipping her arms through the holes and securing the dress in place on her shoulders before zipping the zipper up, and hooking the tiny little dress hook in place. She tightened the belt a couple notches, and secured the excess underneath the little strip.

When she looked up, her breath was frozen in her throat.

She honestly had never before thought that she would ever look good in a dress, let alone even have anywhere to go in one even if she had it; her life before being sucked into this crazy dream was very limited and… a bit lonely. Having been restricted to the house for an entire year and never really doing anything socially during high school kind of screwed her a little bit, because she never knew where to start.

Nor did she ever have the means to even _attempt_ anything, but that was a whole other can of worms.

So, when she looked at herself in one of the nicest dresses she’s ever worn since her prom – probably even _nicer_ – you could say that she was… speechless.

The belt accentuated her hourglass waistline perfectly, the darker leather of the belt contrasted beautifully with the grayish fabric on her torso; the slightly off-the-shoulder cut emphasized her long graceful neck – which would look even better with either a bun up-do or curly ponytail over her shoulder – and the neckline was very conservative, which made her modest size breasts look tasteful. And the skirt flared out wonderfully, making her look fun n’ flirty but not too much.

She could see why this was Pepper’s favorite.

She shyly turned around and opened the door, a slight grin on her face as she faced Pepper. “I can see why this was your favorite Pepper.”

The red head grinned, “I knew it would look good on you; you have those model proportions which, most of time makes it a little harder to find clothes, but when you pull things off, _you pull them off_.”

Pepper grabbed 50’s dress and handed it to Ellie, “We’ll try this one next, but I don’t think it’ll look _nearly_ as good on you as this one does.”

Ellie held the dress in her hands and began walking back to the bathroom, “No harm in keeping a back-up dress, right?”

“Right.”

Ellie swore she could hear the grin in Pepper’s voice; she must have been having too much fun with this.

-

By the end of the dress-up session, they decided that the Silver and the black dress would be the go-to dresses; the 50’s dress looked nice, but not _as_ nice. Ellie honestly didn’t really think it mattered, but whatever Pepper said went because she was the expert in these girly-girl things… Ellie was not.

Or she thought she was. It was interesting seeing herself actually add good input into something that wasn’t child-oriented… it still confused her how well she did so.

Either way, she just brushed it off as clothes-be-clothes and continued forward; after spending some time with the friendly red head they parted ways, something about a R&D issue, Ellie felt a little more comfortable in her new abode. While she still had access to the internet and various other things, the little silver band on her wrist reminded her of one thing.

She was in a cage. Gilded cage, but a cage nonetheless.

She didn’t take it personally though… well, not too much any way. Her pride was a little hurt and her independent spirit was clawing away at her insides, but she refused to become any more of a bother than she already was. Pepper at least had went to great lengths to keep her as comfortable as possible until Tony stopped being paranoid, and it would be more than ungrateful to do something that worked against all of that.

Ellie sighed as she plopped down at the desk chair in front of the desktop. As she booted it up and logged in the next second, she couldn’t help but wonder exactly how powerful of computer Tony had furnished her surroundings with. Was it a basic computer, or was it decked out to the point where it could run three different high intensity PC games on their highest settings at the same time as iTunes, Word document, and two different recording softwares?

Or was that just the baseline for desktop computers in this world?

Whatever the case may be, it was a damned sight better than her old laptop. Though as the thought crossed her mind about the technology, she felt a pang in her chest; there was a lot of stories she had written up that she wouldn’t be able to complete now, lots of artwork that would lay unfinished.

More importantly, she was worried about how her family and friends would take her disappearance – if she was indeed gone for any length of time. Hopefully this all wasn’t part of some really intense dream-slash-drug-trip and wouldn’t just wake up any moment, because that would be horribly cruel of her mind to play tricks like that and put her through the trauma.

Ellie shook her head lightly; she needed to stop worrying about that. Come what may, she had to keep going, and that included getting a bit more information on her surroundings. For example, seeing what other similarities her world had with this one… or lack thereof. One of the two would work.

She opened the web browser – _Stark Industries Inc._ brand of course – and typed a few things into the search bar next to the html bar.

 _ISIS_.

A few articles popped up; small stories about an upstart extremist group being put down by Ironman, then consequently the _Avengers_ as the group tried to spread.

She went back to the search bar again.

The more and more she searched, the more and more she found that the differences between her world and this one were… astronomical. Everything from Al-Qaeda to Obama’s drama – which was completely avoided because he was never even _considered_ for the position – was completely different.

Hell, this was the year 2013 and the world itself wasn’t half about to fall into a pit of hell like back at home... or at least, not as big of one.

Ellie sat back in her chair and stared at her screen in thought; it was possible that thanks to all of the super-people stuff flying around, and technological rebels like Tony Stark that a lot of the problems she had to face back home just didn’t exist here. Which made her even more depressed, because there was no one like Tony Stark, Steve Rodgers, or even _Thor_ back home.

No one to lead people back onto the right path.

People like Tony and the Avengers were just dreams, and those who actually did have a moral fiber in their body just kept their head down and mouth shut… though, now that she thought about it she remembered saying something a long time ago.

If a good man stand by and lets evil win he is not a good man, he is an evil man in a good man’s disguise.

Disheartened, she clicked on the search bar again. She typed in the internet handle, a wry feeling of bitterness in her chest making a small grin form on her face as she decided to search for less serious subject matter.

 _Pewdiepie_.

All she got was fansites dedicated to the old school My Little Pony toys.

She typed in the next name.

_Game Grumps._

… she didn’t even know what she was looking at, but it _definitely_ was _not_ the Game Grumps she knew and loved.

She paused, then slowly typed in the next name.

_Markiplier._

The results were websites full of multiplication activities, games, and various other math related material. Underneath the search bar on the webpage it said, “ _Did you mean Multiply?”_

 _Mark Fishbach_.

No results.

She closed the web browser.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Eeehh... still not long enough in my opinion. Buuuut, they will get longer. I promise ;3


	5. Liar! Liar! Pants on FIRE!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which our Heroine gets to put in some elbow grease, thus making relations with everyone a little bit smoother... maybe?

Ellie watched the television blankly and bored, lying still on the couch of her bequeathed living area; the cooking-slash-fashion show that danced across the screen in bright colors and factual pieces floating along the bottom of the screen was a tolerable distraction in the wake of her apathetic mood resulting from her web surfing.

_Wiggle._

Then she heard the glass of the window behind her head, which was resting on the armrest closest to the window.

Her eyebrow furrowed.

She braced herself underneath her arm and turned towards the window, a suspicious eye trained on the landscape outside, a slight worry bubbling in her gut as she wondered exactly _what_ could make Pyrex window glass _wiggle_. She got up from her laying position on the leather furniture and went towards the window, her shoulders rearing up in a defensive stance as her instincts rang alarm bells.

_VOOOM!_

Three green and silver blurs _whizzed_ by the window.

She jumped back, hitting and flipping over the arm of the couch, then face-planting onto the floor as she rolled off.

She quickly got onto her back and scooted back, her wide blueish-green eyes watching the glass as if it was going to bite off her leg.

“Jarvis!” she called out, “What the hell is going on?!”

“ _Doctor Doom is engaged in battle with_ Sir _; Mr. Barton and Dr. Banner are in route_.”

Ellie got to her feet and hid behind the kitchen bar, “Does the Doc know about me?”

“ _It is unknown if he is aware of your existence, though his appearance here is unexpected._ ” There was a pause, “ _Do you think there’s a connection to your arrival and Doctor Doom’s own sudden appearance?_ ”

Ellie grunted as she reached up and grabbed a metal cooking spoon, “He might have felt the energy distortion from my arrival since he does have the capacity for the hocus-pocus.”

“ _Are you sure? Powers in the arcane are not mentioned in the S.H.I.E.L.D file._ ”

“S.H.I.E.L.D doesn’t believe in magic, remember?”

Silence.

“ _An excellent point. I will notify_ Sir _at once._ ”

Ellie nodded, “And, uh, is there any way I can get some extra security. I mean, I can knock a guy out no problem but the _lovely_ Doc just so happens to have a metal mask for a face. You know, in case I’m what he’s here for.” She paused, “Also, he happens to have robot doubles running everywhere every time he attacks, so…”

Silence.

Ellie gripped the spoon she had a hold of firmly, her blood pounding in her head and veins as she sat there on the marble floor, more than ready at a moment’s notice to defend her personal safety. And if that meant cracking open someone’s skull… Well, she didn’t have a problem with that at all.

If she could even scratch it to begin with anyway.

“Sir _is sending a suit controlled by me to watch over you, and he has been notified about your observations._ ”

“Hopefully he takes it to heart…” she muttered.

The elevator dinged, and she heard the sliding of the metal doors.

The _whirring_ of hydraulics and the heavy _thunk_ of the mechanical footsteps quickened her breath. Who was rap, rap, rapping at her chamber door?

A familiar suit of red and silver stepped from around the corner.

It walked up to her hunched over position, and she let out a breath of relief.

Then raised an eyebrow in confusion when the suit leaned forward with a hand out stretched.

“Uh… Jarvis, what’re you doing?”

“ _The safest place for you to be is in the suit, and far away from the action_.” Came a gruff voice from the suit’s intercom.

 _Tony_.

“Tony, wouldn’t an errant suit flying off into nowhere kind of look out of place when it should be attacking the doom-bots running around?” The man grumbled something unintelligible, then growled and the sound of the repulsors blasting made the speakers crackle from the microphone being clipped from the extreme audio levels.

“ _Kid, this isn’t up for discussion; get in the suit, or the suit is going to_ make _you get in it._ ”

Ellie’s eyes rolled and twitched as she abandoned the spoon and took the outstretched hand, “ _Fine_ , but don’t blame me when all of a sudden I get attacked.”

As she stood and turned the suit walked forward simultaneously, moving and crawling over her form with relative ease as if she did this on a regular basis.

Once the helmet was secured in place, the display lit up and the interface activated. The words _Remote AI Access Engaged_ flashed across her screen for a split second before it went away, then Ellie grumbled slightly at the inability to move her limbs at will with the metal exoskeleton covering her head-to-toe. She took a deep breath as she attempted to push down the anxiety of her limbs moving on the accord of the metal suit towards their destination.

The suit walked her towards the open elevator shaft, stopping just at the edge.

“Should I buckle in for a bumpy ride, pilot?”

The AI ignored her quip, and jumped forward.

Jarvis activated the repulsors and soared upward, flying upwards closer and closer to the ceiling, worrying Ellie as the thick concrete and rebar of the building’s roof came closer with no sign of opening.

“Uh… Jarvis?” No answer, “Jarvis?”

The ceiling was six hundred feet away.

“Jarvis…!”

The ceiling was a hundred feet away.

“ _JARVIS!_ ”

The roof pulled back in two sections, allowing the suit to pass through to the outside safely, and without serious harm.

Ellie caught her breath as she willed her heart to stop thundering in her chest, her anxiety thrumming to and fro in her veins.

“ _I apologize, Ms. Fionne._ Sir _had disabled my vocal operations by accident during the fight with the Doombots._ ”

Ellie snorted incredulously. ‘ _Yeah right_.’

The suit leveled out at a cruising-altitude and shot forward, taking Ellie further and further away from the fight. While she felt a little bit safer, she couldn’t help but think about the Doombots, and what exactly Doom was here for. She had a distinct feeling he was after her out of curiosity, but he could have just felt like being a dick that day and wanted to storm New York or something.

“Jarvis, what’s going down on the homefront?”

The AI pulled up live feeds from traffic cams, cameras mounted on office buildings, amateur cellphone videos, and a few News drones.

The Hulk and Hawkeye had finally made an appearance; the big green colossus was throwing and smashing the bots like they were poorly made legos while the archer was perched up in his own nest, taking potshots and wiping out robots left and right thanks to special arrows made especially for him by Tony and his R&D department. “Where are we going, if I may ask?”

The AI minimized the action and showed her a map of their route, a neat dotted line leading to some house further down south on the coast somewhere.

A few minutes later Ellie flashed her eyes over to the minimized display, antsy and nervous as she watched the archer get overwhelmed and flee his spot as he swung through the air somehow with some sort of mode on his bow activated. Tony looked like he was doing the best he could, but with so many of the Doombots around all he could do was keep flying and keep out of their reach.

She sighed tiredly as she watched the big green Avenger get ganged up on by the Doombots, and felt a tired feeling creep up on her that she had felt one too many times before.

Damn her conscious.

“Jarvis! The Avengers are getting their ass kicked; who’s coming in to back them up?”

“ _Backup from the training center should be there in the hour._ ”

She growled. ‘ _Not good enough_.’ And then sighed again.

“Dammit… Jarvis, send us back!”

The AI stuttered, “ _Ms. Fionne, you are not trained in any fashion on the functions of the suit or in any form of combat–_ ”

“All I need to know is how to throw a damn punch, and if something gets out of hand I’ve got you to watch my back, right?”

The AI hesitated.

“ _Yes_.”

“And I know you can tell that they may not be alive ‘within the hour’ without some help _now_.”

Ellie was laser-focused on the footage; the Doombots were barely having any problems restraining the Hulk, while the hawk was constantly kept on the run along with the Iron avenger, which barely allowed them to even put a dent in the overwhelming numbers of the Doombots.

“ _You have a point._ ”

“Then let’s go.”

Ellie swore she could hear the computer sigh before he let control transfer to her, “ _Rerouting to Avenger’s Tower._ ”

Ellie’s body tilted, banking, and heading back for the center of New York.

\--

Ellie hovered high in the sky as she arrived, watching the action happen down below. The number of Doombots was staggering on the video, and was downright terrifying in person, and it was clear that the team needed backup as the Hulk desperately threw one of his arm to get rid of the annoying metal pests, but failed as the appendage was pulled down again.

Ellie shook her head and took in a deep breath, “Okay…”

She dove.

“ _Here goes nothing!_ ”

Ellie marked multiple targets with her eyes, mostly the ones centering on Tony and the Hulk, “Jarvis! How can we take some of the heat off of these guys?”

Jarvis fired missiles from Ellie’s shoulders, destroying five of them and damaging the rest. The ones that survived turned their red optics on Ellie’s person.

‘ _Well, that got their attention._ ’

Ellie quickly leveled out and flew off to her left.

“Are they following me?”

Jarvis pulled up the view from behind her that took up the bottom part of her viewfinder, showing that they followed her in some sort of attack pattern.

“ _KID, WHAT THE **HELL** ARE YOU DOING HERE?!_ ”

Ellie winced as Tony’s voice boomed through her speakers.

One of the Doombots fired a missile.

“FLARES!” she screamed.

The flaps on her legs opened, and hundreds of bright flames flew out behind her.

The missile that was aiming for her exploded when it came into contact with the flares, the resulting fire and shrapnel went flying into the machine that sent it and obliterated it.

She banked to her right and up, the machines still following in hot pursuit.

“Jarvis, there has to be a way to shake these guys off!” Ellie took another left and dove down a space between buildings, “Got any ideas?”

“ _How about you turn tail and get out kid!_ ”

Ellie sighed.

“Yeah, and have these guys following me wherever I go Tony.” Ellie’s eyebrow twitched upwards as she thought of something. Then she grinned.

She reared up and opened her flaps.

The resulting wind drag sent her flying backwards, her robotic pursuers flying by her as a result.

She resumed her flight pattern and targeted her foes on her viewfinder.

“Light ‘em up Jarvis!”

Missiles flew out of her shoulders again and went straight into the Doombots’ backs, and one took one in the chest when it realized that they had been duped, blowing them all to many metallic shards that rained from the sky.

With a holler of victory, she sailed up into the sky once more and headed back to the tower. “Jarvis, how is it looking back at home base?”

“ _It appears your act of bravery has thinned out the hostiles, but it seems that there are still two thirds of the forces remaining which have been forced to the ground._ ”

Ellie grinned again as she approached the fight.

“Then let’s show them all a good time, yeah?”

She dove again, aiming for a large group in the middle of it all.

As she was within a few hundred feet and enclosing, one Doombot looked up.

And was crushed underneath the impact of Ellie’s landing.

The shockwave of her arrival disoriented the robots for a few moments, long enough for her to let off a few repulsor blasts into the backs of a few and grab another, sending him flying to one of his fellow robots just as they registered what was occurring.

She took off into a hover as two of the four she sent flying to the ground with repulsors tried jumping for her, their grip avoided by mere inches, and she fired her repulsors at them again.

She dove again for one and crushed it’s head underneath her foot as she landed on her feet, then jumped and took off again as one grappled on to her back.

She sailed back-first against the concrete of the sidewalk, the machine attached to her hissing loudly as it’s metal screeched and heated up from the friction.

Ellie grunted as the thing tried to compress the metal around her body, panicking slightly as the metal plating creaked slightly.

“Get off my back asshole!” She hissed as she aimed for the thick concrete base of a brass statue.

The resounding metal _pong_ and sound of shattering components as the Doombot was knocked off and destroyed brought a smile to Ellie’s lips.

She pulled back and headed back to the action, seeing Tony fighting the things head-to-head.

She jumped in alongside him, firing a repulsor into a Doombot spiraling straight for the armored Avenger and sending the hunk of metal flying.

She stood back-to-back with Tony Stark, shaking with adrenaline in the suit and tense, with squared shoulders as her stomach tied itself up in knots.

“ _Dammit kid, you should have left. And I can’t believe Jarvis let you come here._ ” Tony chided.

“Jarvis wouldn’t have let me come if he thought you could handle this by yourself; and obviously he was right.” Ellie’s eyes traced the Doombots again as they slowly advanced forward, “Besides, your backup is probably gonna be too late to help you out, so at this point I think you’re gonna have to take all the help you can.”

He grumbled, “ _I still don’t like this_.”

“Stop grumbling and pay attention.”

“ _I’m not the one to be patronizing about_ attention _._ ”

A bot lunged.

Ellie reared her fist back and pushed it squarely into the jaw of the walking electronic, crushing in it’s mask and making it stumble back as it processed the loss of it’s optics.

Tony fired a repulsor, sending another one through the air and into the window of a local business.

Ellie fired her mini-gun pod on her shoulder as two came for her, the bullets hitting something vital in one and shutting it down, while the other suffered a crippling blow to it’s power core from her repulsor.

She yelped as her feet were pulled out from under her, a halved Doombot grabbing at her leg with half of it’s face missing.

She kicked out at it and fired the repulsor in her foot, putting the malformed machinery out of commission permanently and pushing it away.

Ellie quickly got to her feet and fired her repulsor at the damaged power core of Doombot from before, making the thing twitch and explode in midair as it was sent flying.

Tony ducked as one jumped for him, and it was met with a quick repulsor blast and missile shot from the shoulder of Ellie’s suit to destroy another, courtesy of Jarvis.

She gasped in pain as a bot sneaked up from beside her and pile-dived her into the ground, the force from the impact shooting straight into her ribs.

Angry as all hell, Ellie grabbed the bot's face and activated her repulsor while she held it, essentially melting the inner components of the machine's head as she crushed it's super-heated mask in her clutch.

The useless and dead machine just rolled off her afterwards, the onslaught on it's internal CPU too much for the thing to handle.

Ellie rolled back onto her feet and jumped, using her repulsors on her feet to lengthen her hover and planted a boot in another bot's face.

On and on the battle went as Ellie, Jarvis via the suit, and Tony stood back-to-back and side-to-side, eliminating every robot that tread their path.

After a few minutes, only ten of the things were still standing.

An arrow was shot into the head of one, then became headless in the next second as the arrow exploded.

The Hulk rampaged through, crushing two under his feet and grabbing two with his hands, then rag-dolling them up and down and crushing them underneath his terrifying strength.

The other five scattered, deciding to run.

Tony and Ellie followed in hot pursuit, taking to the sky and, using a few more missiles, thinned them down to two.

One was destroyed by another explosive arrow.

The last one stood by itself in the middle of everything, looking slowly back and forth at the Avengers and Ellie, seemingly uncomfortable at the prospect of being outnumbered.

“ _I am quite impressed._ ” Came an aristocratic voice.

So, _this_ was Doom.

“ _We’re the Avengers; we seemed to do that to people._ ” Tony answered smartly with his own repulsor raised, looking ominous enough with only it.

The Hulk roared.

Clint just put an arrow in his bow and pulled it back, keeping his sights on Doom.

Ellie raised a repulsor and opened all of the weapon compartments on her suit and pointed them at the green cloaked, metal plated human.

Doom chuckled.

“ _Are you sure it was just the Avengers? Because I see that there is one more than usual in a suit with you…_ ”

Ellie didn’t move.

“ _Are you referring to me, sir?_ ” the posh English voice answered allowing only his voice to echo outside of the suit, taking Ellie’s silent hint and covering up her existence.

“ _No, I’m referring to the young female within the armor. I swear I could hear her voice earlier, and her shape and diminutive form is hard to miss._ ”

Ellie’s eye twitched.

“Did that bastard just call me small?”

She heard Tony chuckled through the Comm.

“ _Hey, doesn’t matter who’s with us; we beat you, you’re going to prison- Pure and simple. Oh, and for your information, the suit is just Jarvis experimenting with different builds to see if they’re more useful in a fight. Whatever 'female' you heard was your own perverted imagination._ ”

Tony stepped forward.

“ _Now, are we going to do this the easy way where we_ don’t _let the Hulk play with you…_ ”

Doom twitched slightly at the visualization.

The Hulk grinned.

“ _We put you into the back of an Avengers security van…_ ”

Said vehicle arrived, a few outlandishly dressed people jumping out and standing at the ready. “ _And you come quietly._ ”

“ _Or do we have to say, ‘Hulk smash’?_ ”

Hulk cracked his knuckles.

Doom reared up.

“ _I choose option Three_.”

Everyone paused.

‘ _Option Three?_ ’ Ellie thought, then her instincts screamed as she watched Doom’s eyes flash.

“ _GUYS, HE’S GONNA BLOW_!” she screamed, an errant thought in the back of her mind wondered if she just clipped the microphone or not.

Taking the hint, Clint and the junior Heroes took cover while Ellie and Tony took to the skies.

Well, except for the Hulk. He just ran forward and began to smash the living crap out of the now-deemed explosive Doombot.

…

 **_ BOOM_** _._

Ellie and Tony’s flight jumbled slightly as the shockwave of the explosion hit their suits, but they evened out and turned around, seeing the middle of the battlefield as a big, black crater with the Hulk standing there, dazed and confused at where the machine went but no worse for wear.

Ellie huffed as she landed and stood there, gazing at the destruction around them and at a few citizens who were hesitantly coming out of hiding.

She sighed, “Well, here comes another Public Relations issue.”

-

Ellie groaned as she put the received ice pack from Clint and laid it on her side, a huge bruise had formed there from where one Doombot had tried to crush her to death and another had body-slammed her into the ground. She looked up at the archer, “Thanks.”

“No problem.”

She leaned back gingerly on the couch at the Avengers HQ, relaxing as she felt the cooling powers of the ice work it’s magic on her burning-hot bruise. Doctor Banner sat across from her on the other couch, looking her up and down as if she was some sort of unknown science he had to crack. Clint Barton sat down on the same couch, rubbing his shoulder as he glanced at her.

Tony walked in from the kitchen, giving a beer bottle to Clint and offering to Bruce – who declined and raised his cup of tea in response – then he handed a glass Coca-Cola bottle to Ellie. He may have a shaky set of morals, but he never would give someone underage alcohol from what Ellie could remember. He also sat down on the couch across from her, sitting in the middle of Clint and Bruce.

All of a sudden she felt like she was being put on trial.

She popped the top of her soda and took a swig, noting it must have been the Coca-Cola that came from Mexico from the way it went smoothly down and didn’t burn like the regular stuff did. “So…” she looked at her bottle, confirming that it was indeed the fabled Mexican Cola from the _Hecho en Mexico_ plastered on the side and various other writings in Spanish, “You still pissed, Tony?”

The inventor sighed and put down the rejected beer on the coffee table, then took a swig of his whiskey that he had poured out for himself, “A little bit.”

“Do I really have to re-explain myself again?”

“No; _but_ ,” He sat down his glass, “You have, from what I can gather, never been in a full-out assault, and have little to no experience in hand-to-hand combat, and have very little to no experience in operating the Suits. Safe to say that you could have _easily_ either killed someone or gotten killed,” He crossed his arms, “And don’t forget your circumstances; if you would have gotten yourself killed out there, how the hell could your family know what happened to you if they were literally _universes_ away?”

Ellie narrowed her eyes slightly, “As far as I know there is _no_ way for me to even go back home, let alone tell them anything so I didn’t really think it mattered because I could be considered dead to them by this point anyway.” She crossed her arms, “All that mattered at that moment was the fact that you needed help and you weren’t gonna get it unless I jumped in.”

‘ _I didn’t even think about my family at the time… have I been declared dead already?_ ’

“How did you know you could have even helped out? For all you knew, you could have been more of a hindrance than _help_ –”

“But she did help.” Clint interjected while taking a swig of his beer, “Tony, you and I both know that Doom had caught us at a bad time and he took advantage of it, and from what _I_ could see she handled herself just fine with Jarvis backing her up. Cut her some slack.” Clint looked at Tony carefully, “Where is this Dad-lecture coming from, because as far as I knew you didn’t have a fatherly bone in your body.”

Bruce just took a sip his of tea when Tony turned his eyes towards him, soundlessly saying he was staying out of it.

“Sometimes people surprise us, Clint.” Said a familiar mezzo-bass.

Ellie turned and watched as Steve walked in, followed by the red-head assassin.

Tony sputtered, “I’m not being _fatherly_ , I’m just ticked that she threw herself into a situation she wasn’t equipped for and could have gotten us all killed…”

“That’s not what I was seeing Tony.” Natasha quipped, sitting next to Ellie on the couch. She turned to the young woman and smiled, “Nice fighting out there, by the way.”

Ellie nodded nervously, “Thanks, Jarvis did most of the work though.”

“ _I was only in control once or twice during the fight; Ms. Fionne retained much of her autonomy and executed many tactical maneuvers herself._ ” Answered the AI.

“Tony did have a good point though,” Steve fixed her with a serious blue stare. “You jumped into a situation that you could have done more harm than good in and you were lucky that you managed to do the opposite.”

Ellie waved her hand as Tony reared up for another bout of lecturing, “Either way, I’m _not_ doing it again.” She removed the ice pack and laid it down on the coffee table, “I’ve got my fill of excitement for a while.”

‘ _Unless they almost get their asses handed to them_ … _or if I get attacked._ ’

“Good.” Tony smirked victoriously.

Ellie just nodded, knowing that if she tried speaking up she would just instigate the situation further. She got their point: She did something stupid, almost got killed, yet didn’t and managed to help save the day. She got lucky, and shouldn’t test her luck again.

_Let’s move on, shall we?_

“Can we move on to _why_ Doom was here in the first place?” she asked.

Bruce spoke up sensing Ellie’s attempt at a subject change, “Yes, you said that Doom may have come here because he felt the energy distortions from your arrival and wanted to investigate?”

Ellie nodded.

“Then why would he come here, why not go to Tony’s estate in California where you first popped up?”

Ellie rubbed her neck as she thought for a second, then gestured with her hand, “Maybe he did, and was tracing residual energy that I could be emanating?”

“But we didn’t pick up any energy from you.”

“Maybe you weren’t looking for the right kind.”

Silence.

“Like what?” Tony asked.

Ellie shrugged, “I don’t know, maybe forms of energy you wouldn’t notice because they would be just regular background noise on traditional scans or whatever?” A certain episode of Star Trek came to mind, one where a spy on the ship Voyager was sending messages to enemy forces via the same way, “God bless it, I’m a Sales Associate, not a scientist; I don’t know this crap.”

Tony looked at Bruce again, this time the scientist looking him in the eye.

Bruce shrugged, looked away, and sat his tea down on the coffee table, “I’ll have you come to the lab and we’ll run a few tests on you to see if you are emanating something we’re not picking up,” he looked her up and down before rising to his feet, “At the very least we know you’re not giving off Gamma radiation.”

A wry chuckle jumped out of Ellie’s mouth. “That’d just be bad, now wouldn’t it?”

“Let’s not go there.” Bruce said with a small smirk, though his voice was tinted with a slight bit of bitterness.

Ellie quirked her lips a bit too in response, a touch of bitterness in herself as well as she remembered the doctor’s struggles with his own, literal green rage demon.

A cool rage demon, but still a demon.

She rolled her shoulders and scooped up the ice pack as she stood up, following the doctor towards the aforementioned laboratory. She gently pressed it against her bruised side again, the pain starting to pulse underneath her skin again as her body was sent forth into motion.

She felt the eyes of the others land on her back for a moment before she rounded a corner and stood before the elevator beside the good doctor. She shifted her weight to other leg, waiting patiently as the metal box slid up the cables to retrieve them via JARVIS.

“While I agree with Tony,” Bruce said quietly, “I am glad you tried to help; we were going to get overrun if you hadn’t stepped in. I’m not saying it wasn’t stupid, but I’m happy you helped out.”

Ellie shrugged, pressing the pack of ice a little hard to her skin to coax the coldness into her skin a little bit more. “I did what I thought was necessary.”

The elevator dinged and the metal doors opened.

Bruce just looked at her for a moment before turning away and walking through, Ellie following close behind. They both turned as the doors slid closed and the lift slowly eased them down to their destination, towards Bruce's lab where they might find some answers as to why Doom was targeting them all of a sudden.

Ellie silently hoped that she wasn’t the reason why.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you all like the fight scene, I really tried to make it... realistic as possible but I haven't written many fight scenes in my oh-so-ever illustrious writing career so... go easy on me please x_x


	6. As anyone does in their Downtime

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> ... Shameless Filler... Somewhat.

Ellie twitched and pressed a little harder against the cotton ball in the crook of her arm that was taped to the site where Bruce had taken her blood. Which was a challenge in of itself, seeing as Ellie had an intense phobia of needles. And when ‘intense’ is used to describe her phobia, the word is nothing but an understatement.

Bruce himself had been surprised when Ellie had scooted away from him slightly at the sight of the instrument. In the end it took Steve coming down and holding Ellie still so he could take a blood sample, which Ellie wasn’t too proud of but… this particular fear was one she couldn’t shake.

Unlike spiders. She could squash those.

Steve looked at her from his position on the gurney beside hers, leaning against it as she sat on her own, her hanging above the ground. She compulsively messed with the cotton ball again, “You really hate needles, don’t you?” Steve asked.

Ellie gave the cotton a blank look as she picked at it some more, “I was in and out of hospitals when I was a kid, and more often than not I didn’t have the kindest nurses.”

Steve nodded slowly, shifting weight to his other leg as he thought over the information, “That’d do it, I guess.” She rubbed at the cotton again, “You should stop messing with that.”

Ellie pulled her hands away from it and wrung them in her lap, her nerves still trying to settle themselves. Steve watched her for a moment, before walking over to Bruce analyzing the sample in the computer and looking over his shoulder, a good ways away from Ellie. Steve noticed her attention was focused on the medical equipment on the other side of the room, then leaned closer to the doctor.

“Hey Bruce,” Steve whispered, “Does Ellie strike you as strange?”

Bruce looked at him from the corner of his eye, “Everyone in Avengers HQ is weird, Steve. Ellie is normal compared to us.”

Steve sighed, then leaned against the table and checked again to make sure Ellie wasn’t watching them, “No not like _us_ , but I mean… doesn’t something seem off about her?”

Bruce removed his glasses and turned fully to Steve, “Care to clarify that?”

A pinched expression grew on Steve’s face, “It’s… it’s like when she talks to you she never looks you in the eye.”

Bruce furrowed his brow, “She always seems to be engaging when she talks to someone, to _me_ at least.

“I’m not saying she isn’t showing an interest in the conversation, what I’m saying is that she’s _acting_ like she looks you in the eye, but she isn’t.”

Bruce shrugged and looked over at Ellie, “Okay, so she doesn’t look people in the eye… what else did you notice?”

“Not much, just that she seems a bit… awkward.”

“Awkward?”

Steve looked at Ellie, noticing that she was wringing her hands again, “Yeah, like she doesn’t really know what to do with herself in a group, so most of the time she's silent unless spoken to.”

Bruce nodded and turned back to the monitor, “Well, she could just be a little socially awkward, Steve.”

Steve sighed, “Then why does my gut say otherwise when she freaked out so bad at the sight of a needle you had to call me down here to hold her? And I might add that she didn’t calm down until I started squeezing her in a bear hug when she rolled herself into a ball?”

The doctor paused, gears turning in his head as he thought over what Steve said. “Okay, maybe she’s a little bit off, but do you think she’ll be a problem?”

Steve narrowed his eyes and looked at Ellie who had rested her chin in her palm, “I’m not sure, but I’d like to know just to be sure.”

 _Ding_.

The two Avengers looked at the screen; the mass cornucopia of charts, readings, and levels baffled Steve’s brain being inexperienced as he was in the field of biomedical science, but Bruce seem to know enough to nod approvingly at the large quantity of data.

He turned towards the young woman and got up from his seat, walking over to Ellie with Steve in tow, whose face had smoothed out.

The doctor rubbed his hands together as he faced her, “Well, the scans we ran on your blood didn’t really pick up on anything either other than the usual energy readouts.”

Ellie looked up at him and away again as her eyes glazed over in thought, then snapped back to reality. “Maybe there were trance amounts in the environment where I came in?”

“ _Upon analysis, t_ _here was a large spike in an unknown energy displacement a moment before Ellie’s arrival_.” JARVIS piped in, bringing in a display and showing the readings side-by-side with the video of Ellie’s… flashy entrance. “ _Though no trace was found in the recent blood sample_.”

Ellie perked up, “Maybe that unknown energy, I don’t know, left a trail behind like when humans shed skin cells?”

Bruce nodded, “That could happen. Thermal Energy even hangs around a little for a while even after the source of it is long gone before dissipating.”

Ellie paused for a moment. “We need to tell Tony.”

“ _Don’t worry, I heard the whole thing._ ” Tony’s voice echoed in the speaker system, “ _I had JARVIS stay in the loop until something popped up– Ah ah!_ ” Tony exclaimed, “ _You use that and I’ll turn you into MIT for them to disassemble you._ ”

Ellie pinched her nose, “Are you seriously working on another suit?”

“ _Hey, we all have our hobbies_.”

“Anyway,” Steve interrupted, “What do you think of what Ellie said, about the whole energy trail thing?”

Tony hummed, “ _It’d explain why there were reports of Doom sightings in Cali, in a random part of the northern US, and why he attacked us here in New York._ ” The sound of a soldering iron buzzed for a second, “ _Jarvis, why don’t you start scanning the surrounding area for more of this energy?_ ”

“ _Yes sir._ ”

“I’ll re-scan the blood sample again and go a little more in depth, just to make sure I got everything.” Bruce said as he walked back to the monitor and messed with a few digital wheels and levels.

Steve and Ellie just looked at one another.

“Eh… I’ll just go back to my room.” Ellie commented as she hopped down from her perch and moved towards the elevator, “I don’t know about you, but I really don’t feel like becoming a human pincushion again.”

Steve trailed behind her and stood next to her in front of the metal doors. “You think that was bad, you should have seen the ones that injected me with the Super Solider Serum.”

Ellie shuddered as she remembered the movie clip, “I already have.”

Steve looked at her strangely for a moment.

She looked back at him, “Don’t ask.”

 _Ding_.

-

Ellie blew a hair out of her face as she took apart the same pen for the tenth time in a row as she sat there in her little apartment-slash-prison. There was nothing on television, nothing she wanted to see on the internet that she could _remotely_ have access to, and she felt the urgency in her muscles to do _something_ increase as time went on… so much so that her muscles started to cramp and twitch.

Damn her condition.

She sighed again as she successfully put the pen back together perfectly, testing it out on the expanse of paper towel she found in the kitchen and noting with less-than-mild satisfaction that she had, once again, successfully reassembled a ordinary pen without breaking it. She pushed away from the counter top and stretched, feeling the joints in her shoulders and back _pop_ before she relaxed again.

She still felt ansty as all hell.

She leaned back and stared at the ceiling, “Jarvis, is there anything more engaging that I’m allowed to do besides be a couch potato and maliciously take apart a pen?”

“ _Unfortunately, Mr. Stark has not cleared you for other activities for security reasons._ ”

Ellie huffed.

“I think I’ll go homicidal just sitting here to drown in my own boredom at this point.” She grumbled lowly to herself, glaring at the smooth ceiling before she sat up straight in her chair.

She bounced up from her seat, “There has to be at least a deck of _cards_ somewhere…”

Ten minutes of searching every drawer and cupboard left a frustrated Ellie slightly less bored than before. But still bored.

 _So_ bored.

“Jarvis, am I even allowed another couple of pens for the sake of amusement?” she deadpanned, “At least taking things as mundane as pens apart is better than this.”

“ _Jeez, you’re_ really _bored aren’t you?_ ” commented the billionaire.

Ellie glared at the ceiling and crossed her arms.

“ _And frustrated._ ”

‘ _Obviously._ ’ Ellie thought to herself as she rolled her eyes. “Kind of hard not to be when your warden doesn’t even grace you with a deck of cards to play solitaire with.”

“ _And_ sassy _, seriously how much sass can you fit into that little package?_ ”

Her eye twitched.

“I’m not short.”

“ _Could have fooled me_.”

Ellie uncrossed her arms and flipped off the nearest security camera, “Fuck off, I’m a normal height for a woman in the U.S and I don’t want to hear nothing about it.”

“ _Jarvis, what’s the national height average for Caucasian women?_ ” asked the inventor.

“ _The National average in the United States is Five foot six. Ms. Fionne stands at Five foot four._ ” Answered the posh voice.

Silence.

“ _I rest my case_.”

“Fuck you.”

“ _You wish._ ”

Ellie’s face twisted, “Ew, _no_ ; you’re old enough to be my grandfather.”

Tony sputtered, “ _Excuse me, women just a year older than you toss themselves at my feet at all the parties._ ”

“I’m not like other women… especially not those ditzy idiots who can’t lift a finger to save or work for themselves.”

There was a pause.

“ _You’re definitely right about that one._ ”

Ellie blinked at the sincerity in his voice.

The doors to the elevator opened.

Ellie’s eyes flashed to them.

“ _Come on down; you said you were bored right?_ ”

Ellie turned and walked slowly towards the elevator, “Where am I going, exactly?”

“ _To the secret lair of a mad scientist, of course. What I’m working on ought to ease your boredom_. ”

She walked in and the door slid shut behind her, “You mean you’re allowing me into the giant garage that you work on your suits in?”

“ _Exactly._ ”

“Wouldn’t that be dangerous by your paranoid standards?”

“ _I’ve got Jarvis to back me up, we’re in the Avengers Tower surrounded by the whole team, and you said so yourself you were innocent. So, I should have nothing to worry about, right?_ ”

Ellie could barely contain her excitement.

“Other than the fact that I may accidentally hurt myself because of how clumsy I can be, nope, you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

Her hands twitched, and she bounced a little on her feet. She was _finally_ going to do some awesome suit-science with a genius who shared the same passion for science.

She totally wanted Tony as a Science bro.

-

“Hey-hey- _hey_! Dum-E, your job is just to hand me tools when I ask for them, _not_ to destroy something I’ve spent about four hours on.”

Ellie shook her head bemusedly as she cracked a grin at their antics; they were no less funny in person than they were on the silver screen back home. Although she had to admit that Dum-E had a talent for being a bit of a troll without meaning to be, for example accidentally ruining six-to-seven hours of circuitry work that Tony had been doing.

But that was Tony’s fault since he programmed him that way.

“Okay, so what was the problem with this certain piece of equipment Tony?” she asked as she pointed at the motherboard in front of her and the aforementioned Mad Scientist.

“Well,” he pointed to a certain part on the motherboard, “This particular processor keeps overclocking and freezing during midflight, which starts a cascading failure in the arm piece of the suit.”

“Basically it keeps stopping and causes the metal of your arm fall off?”

“Exactly.”

“Okay…” Ellie narrowed her eyes at the offending chip, “So, is it because of the limitations of the chip itself or because there is possibly another chip that’s not doing its job and the extra workload is too much for it?”

Tony, without looking, picked up a seemingly random tool. “That's what I’m going to find out as soon as I finish off putting in a new, more powerful chip.”

Ellie crossed her arms and leaned back, nodding faintly as the cogs spun in her head. “Don’t you have an on-board diagnostic system for the suit?”

Tony soldered the chip in carefully, his hands steady and delicate as he gave most of his undivided attention to the motherboard he was working on, “Yes, but it isn’t really a replacement for good ol’ fashion tinkering.”

She shrugged, spinning around in her chair as she took in the sheer capacity of the Workshop. The ceiling easily spanned two floors high, the walls themselves covered in old grease and burn marks from Tony’s technological experiments. The floor was a black concrete, and the tables were covered in various tools and unfinished suit pieces.

If this was Ellie’s workshop, her OCD would have been going haywire. It still was anyway.

Her ears twitched as the hissing sound of Tony’s work ceased, then she turned and watched him place the suit arm on himself. He was his own test dummy, after all.

“Alright, let’s see if switching the chip out did the trick– what’re you doing?” Tony frowned slightly as Ellie backed away slowly.

“I remember what happens when you work on the suits, and I don’t feel like being pummeled anymore today _thank you_.”

Tony raised an eyebrow, “ _Right_ , but did it ever occur to you that you’re just being a big pansy?”

Ellie had put two tables between them and was in the process of hiding underneath a third, “I’m not being a coward I’m being _smart_. Especially when a man who has an extensive record for going overboard decides to tinker with things.”

Tony rolled his eyes, “Whatever. Take shelter if you want – and Dum-E if you spray me with that fire extinguisher when I’m not on fire, _again_ , I _will_ give you to Cal-tech for research.”

The little machine whirred fearfully.

Ellie just shook her head and took cover completely underneath the work bench. She reached up blindly and gently grasped the sheet of heavy metal that laid forgotten on the surface, then brought it down to her level as a makeshift shield for any… projectiles.

“Okay…” Tony shook his armored arm, “Starting a test fire with the new chip in three… two…”

Ellie hunkered down.

“One.”

_Whirr…_

_BOOM!_

Ellie cringed as the loud boom echoed through the laboratory, then cringed again at the loud crash that followed after. She slowly unraveled her fingers from her shield and peaked over the edge of it, spying Tony’s prone figure on the floor… with the armor on his arm half gone.

‘ _Okay… that didn’t go well_.’

“You okay Tony?” she called out.

A pained whine was her answer.

She sighed and pushed her protection away, then got to her feet and shuffled out from underneath the metal table with a wry look on her face. “What did you say about me being a pansy, again?”

She stood over him with her arms crossed as he groaned again.

“Fine, I take it back; you were being cautious. Mind helping me up now?” Ellie rolled her eyes and leaned down with her hand outstretched.

“Come on old man, you’re not done yet.”

-

Ellie stretched and yawned as she walked back into her room later that night – or, more like early that morning judging by the way her eyes seemed to only get temporary relief from the exhaustion-induced burn every time she blinked ever so slowly.

Or the fact that she could see the beginnings of an early dawn on the horizon of the New York landscape right outside of her window. She let her arms drop and her shoulders sag, her back cracking wonderfully in response to more movement after being curled up over a mechanical arm and soldering kit with Tony for hours on end.

It felt good, working the billionaire on the suit. Though she was sure it was just his way of seeing if she was more than she let on, she couldn’t help but revel in the chance to fiddle with the mind-blowing piece of equipment. It made the inner engineer she had neglected for years jump in joy as she and Tony tore apart and put back together the little bits and pieces of wires and circuits, then testing them.

Then starting all over again when it blew up in their faces… more like _Tony’s_ face, but it still blew up.

And a few pieces did fly over the table she took refuge under.

Ellie blinked slowly again as her brain registered the black-turning-purplish-blue dawn streaking across her windows. Deciding that maybe a shower – definitely a shower now that she thought about it – and going to bed would be a godly idea, she sluggishly turned on her heel and made her way to her bedroom, opening the door and dragging her body through it to her dresser, barely noticing the wooden slab shut behind her.

Desired nightclothes in hand, she dragged herself through her bathroom door and laid the items down on the counter top, then made her way to the linen closet and nabbed a few towels. She laid them by the shower door and cracked open the glass, reaching out to the digital pad and turning on the shower head, then adjusting it to a desired temperature after a few test feels.

She shed herself of her grimy, oil-splattered clothes and underwear, and happily jumped into the shower. As she scrubbed her hair through with shampoo, she couldn’t help but marvel at how things had progressed in the last twelve-twenty-fourish hours; going from prisoner, to one-time Superhero, to temporary assistant to Tony Stark.

If she knew she wasn’t dreaming, she would think that she got stuck in some sort of Fanfiction.

Ellie tapped a few buttons on the display and shut the water off, the little water droplets dripping only slightly from the shower head as the excess drained down before it finally stopped. Sighing and rolling her shoulders, Ellie opened the door and grabbed her towel. She shivered slightly as the cooler air wrapped around her wet body, urging her to wrap her hair up so she could grab the other towel and dry her body off.

Body satisfyingly dry, she walked back to the counter and slipped on her nightclothes along with clean underthings. Her shoulders slumped again as a yawn tore itself from her jaw, a few tears lining her eyes as the resulting blink brought them forth to her dried out and tired eyes.

Scratching her neck, she pushed through the bathroom door and made a slow beeline for the bed, throwing back the covers then crawling into them as she cocooned herself in the soft fabric.

She breathed in the scent of the pillow.

' _It doesn’t smell like my detergent.'_

Then she was no more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Weeell, looks like the plot thickens a tick, now don't it? There will be more action in the next chapter I promise- oh, and we're _really_ far off from picking up where the prologue started. So sit back, relax, and enjoy the show.
> 
> Also, sorry for the long Hiatus- Life got real crazy real fast. Still crazy, but I'm managing... barely.
> 
> Pray for me.


	7. Never Completely Leave Yourself without an Exit Plan

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The next day and things heat up... Also, the title is some sound advice, don't you think?

**_BOOM!_ **

Ellie jumped and rolled out of bed as the explosion resounded loudly in her ears and shook the building, the covers knotting up in her legs and hindering her movement on the floor while the towel that she had wrapped her hair with created a tent over her head.

She growled as she kicked the offending fabric and ripped the towel away, getting to her feet, “Damn expensive comforter…” she shook out her barely dampened knots and jogged into her living room, looking out the window down to the town square below.

To see Doom wrecking the place again. Seriously, didn’t this guy have anything better to do?

Ellie dashed-slash-hobbled for the elevator doors as she pulled on her shoes, “Jarvis, what the hell is going on besides Doom doing some exterior decorating?”

“ _Doom is attempting to gain entry to the bottom levels._ ”

Ellie arched an eyebrow as she elbowed the elevator button, hopping on one leg as she slipped the last sneaker on, “Why didn’t he just bust through one of the top floors?”

“Because I needed a distraction.”

Ellie swiveled on a dime and slammed her back into the metal of the elevator, startled as the hulking half-man-half-machine stepped out of _nothing_ and towards her. “What _the_ …”

“You know, you caused quite a ruckus in the occult community with the energy you put out when you arrived. I honestly thought that the Avengers had activated some relic, but instead I find the trail leads straight to you…”

Ellie slowly slid over the elevator button and pressed it two more times.

“A young, unimpressive, plain girl.”

Ellie’s eye twitched. She pressed the button three more times.

“Would it be stupid of me to say that ‘You’ve got the wrong girl’?”

Doom titled his head slightly as he came a little bit closer, “Quite.”

Ellie clicked the button seven more times, “Well… You’ve got the wrong girl?”

Doom stopped and chuckled, “Are you really going to try that after you asked if it was stupid or not?”

Ellie pressed the button a few more times again, “I never said if I should, I just asked if it was a stupid idea.”

Doom was within arm’s reach of her now and was taking his damn sweet time in making his way to her, obviously trying to intimidate Ellie. And it was working; very well in her opinion.

Ellie moved back to in front of the doors and pressed as hard as she could into them as if she could phase into them if she willed it hard enough, “In a panicked situation involving a half human half metal man appearing out of nowhere I usually don’t have a snappy comeback or one-liner prepared, sorry. You should have chosen one of the stock panicking situations if you wanted the Ellie Brand of Wit. There’s a waiting period of indefinite time if you want to leave and try again later…”

He was right up on her now, forcing her to have to crane her neck up to look him in the face.

‘ _Oh my god, **where the hell is the damn elevator?** Better yet, **where the hell are the**_ **Avengers _?!_** ’ Ellie’s heartrate picked up as she caught hints of what smelled like pine trees, ash, and dust surround her.

Because that’s how close Doom was. Way too close.

“You do know why I’m here, correct?”

Ellie raised an eyebrow as she tried crushing herself into the metal even harder, desperate to put some distance between her and the man in front of her. “Not really, maybe you’re here to get your jollies off by trying to intimidate me and overall being a huge dick. And of course you seem to be taking an interest in exterior decorating, though to a more extreme extent.” She said smartly, then made a thoughtful face, “I think you’re trying to go for a _distressed_ look, but I think you might be overdoing it.”

Doom chuckled, “Nice try, but I think you know why I’m here. Now you’ll either come quietly…”

The elevator dinged and the doors opened.

“Or, how about _not at all!_ ” Ellie yelled as she fell back…

And felt her stomach leave her as she continued falling backwards.

And she screamed. A lot.

“ _OH MY GOD WHAT THE HE-E-E-E-E-E-E-E-LL!_ ”

She began to tumble in midair as she fell through the elevator shaft, hollering her head off as the bottom came up faster and faster, with the wind howling in her ears and ripping at her form. Everything was a blur of metal, concrete, and wind as she tumble head over heels down, and down further.

That is until she was jerked up by metal arms.

Ignoring the fact that her stomach had went from being stuck on the fifty-eighth floor then to being passed by on the twenty-nineth floor from her rapid and unplanned ascension, she started kicking and punching the metal arms holding her so closely. She looked up with a raised fist to clobber the one who kidnapped her…

And found the visage of Tony’s Iron Man suit rather than the metal mask of Doctor Doom.

So she flared her nostrils instead and her eyes narrowed angrily, “Dammit Tony, _what the hell took you so **damn** long?!_”

He flew them up through the opened emergency hatch-slash-ceiling of the elevator shaft and quickly jetted away from the building, looking over his shoulder once or twice to make sure that Doombots weren’t following them, “ _Sorry, I have a little problem with some cheaply-made robots taking out their frustrations on my nice marble floor in the lobby and I couldn’t get to you right away._ ” He grunted, “ _On top of that, if it wasn’t for you practically ultra-spamming the elevator button I wouldn’t have noticed something was wrong._ ” His voice crackled through the speakers on the outside of the suit.

Ellie blinked, “What? Did he loop some video feed or something?”

“ _Probably, or used some of that dark matter energy thing he has going for him to make it_ look _like everything was A-Okay. Still trying to figure that out.”_

Ellie tightened her grip around the suit’s neck as she looked around at the landscape around them, “Are you actually piloting this thing right now or are you fighting off robot demons?”

Tony chuckled, “ _I’m currently destroying the so called robot demons; Jarvis is driving._ ”

Ellie grunted, “Okay, then why am _I_ not in the suit right now?”

“ _The suit can only conform around other subjects when they are at rest for our most current model. The only one it can form around in midflight is_ Sir _._ ” Jarvis said informatively as he readjusted his hold on Ellie, still flying forwards and farther away from New York and all the fighting.

Ellie scoffed a little, “How convenient for him then.”

_Bang!_

She and the suit went spiraling in midair as something impacted against the side of them, momentarily interrupting their flight before they stabilized. Ellie looked around wildly when they righted themselves, a peeved look on her face as her eyes scanned the skies around them.

“Just _what_ the hell was that?”

“ _I’m not sure,_ ” the AI answered, the suit turning its head around and looking but finding nothing, “ _Whatever it was seems to have_ –”

_Slam!_

Once again they were sent spinning in the air before Jarvis stabilized them again.

“Okay, that’s it; who’s the asshole that keeps trying to play a midair version of bumper cars?” Ellie growled as she dug her fingers into the metal under hands as best she could.

“ _There doesn’t appear to be any life forms or Doombots currently engaging with us._ ”

“Well _something_ is Jarvis! I highly doubt that the Iron Man suit can experience turbulence like _that_!” Ellie looked around one more time, “Hey, we need to go down and I need to get in the suit. One false move up here and I’m going to get thrown into the air.”

Jarvis readjusted his hold again and began to descend, “ _An excellent idea kid, just don’t hijack it again by talking Jarvis into_ another _bad idea that requires me yelling at you and possibly just attaching a metal chain to your leg to keep you in one place._ ”

“Oh get your knickers out of that twist you put in them and focus on _not_ getting your ass handed to you by the robot demons so that way I don’t _have_ to engage in a bad idea.” Ellie snapped as she readjusted her hold on the suit, finally feeling her stomach catch up to her as she felt the onset of her panic rising in her lungs.

She so wanted to scream some more right now.

Ellie huffed out an irritated breath as they finally landed on solid ground, the suit immediately conforming around her the moment the parameters were met. The display lit up in the helmet and icons flashed across the screen as the user interface engaged, but Jarvis was already ahead of the onboard operations as he made the suit jump and take off into the sky, seemingly desperate to get the young woman back on track to the safe house waiting for them.

She pulled up footage of Avengers Tower, and smirked as she watched the various super-humans kick tremendous ass in the category of Robot Demon Dispatching. Closing the window, she focused on the skies in their puffy glory while a patch of darkening clouds gathered to her distant right.

“Jarvis, are you absolutely sure that we aren’t being followed?”

“ _I have been continually scanning for organic lifeforms and nonorganic lifeforms, and nothing has surfaced other than indigenous wildlife._ ”

Ellie pursed her lips as an uneasy feeling settled in her stomach. Turning her view away from the coming storm, she focused on a blip in the distance marked as their destination which didn’t seem too far away now.

“Are you sure the place we’re going is secure?”

“Sir _, after the last attack by Doom, had decided to upgrade a good number of his, quote ‘Off the Books’ end-quote, estates in case there ever had been a need for them. Also, the scans came back from the bloodwork which found that you were no longer excluding the energy that Doom originally tracked you with, so it should be relatively safe._ ”

“ _Should_ be?”

“ _There is a small chance that Doom can deduce your location, but it is only a remote chance._ ”

Ellie raised a skeptical eyebrow as they softly landed and surveyed the exterior of the so called _Safe House_ that Tony sent her to.

More like an eye-sore in the form of a multi-story mansion decked out in faded, cracked, and downright decrepit gothic architecture in the middle of the woods. The place looked like it had been abandoned for more than a decade with all of the ivy and vines crawling about the place.

She rolled her eyes as the suit pulled back from her then walked through the door, Jarvis following suit as evident by the light sound of hydraulics. The thick slab of the door automatically shut and locked behind the two with several loud clicks and thuds, causing Ellie to look towards it in fascination.

Well, that must have been one of the _measures_ Tony had put in place. She turned back towards the open room–

_CRACK-THUUUUM!_

She jumped halfway out of her skin at the unexpected sound as her surroundings were lit up when the lightening flashed; all of the furniture and pictures were covered in white cloths, the lights were off, and everything had probably not seen use in years. There was several layers of thick ass dust that covered anything the eye could see, which danced lightly in the air at the disturbance of new air rushing in at their entrance. Just add to the creepy factor, rain pattered harshly against the windows and another crack of lightening lit up the room ominously which was a lighter crack than before.

Brushing off the feeling, she stepped into the lavish foyer and blinked at the enormous amount of doors that laid down the hallway a small ways away from her on the other side of the huge room. Jarvis stepped up next to her, his metal feet thudding against the marble of the floor as he surveyed the area. Dammit, did she seriously need to get a GPS to find her way around here?

Taking another tiny step forward she wondered if she left footsteps in the dust that covered the floor along with everything else. “Right,” she muttered, “Let’s see what room will be mine tonight…”

“ _Would you like some assistance, Ms. Fionne?_ ”

Ellie turned towards the AI, a slightly wide-eyed expression on her face as she imagined exactly how many rooms there had to be in this house to choose from, and the wacky placement that they probably had been laid out in.

“Yes, please.”

After a bunch of corridors, expensive furniture pieces – all still covered in the eerie cloths strewn about everywhere – and staircases, along various other landmarks later they finally found the room had been designated for her use by Jarvis, apparently for its strategic positon.

“Thanks Jarvis.” She muttered as she opened the door and walked into the room, finding it to also be covered in dust and whitish cloths, all of which seemed to cover a red embroidered renaissance theme. To be honest, at this point those cloths looked more of a cream-color than anything else from age and being shut in for… however long they’ve been here. She heard the AI answer back, but didn’t really pay much attention to what he had been saying.

Sighing, she opened the big double doors leading out to a small closed-in patio and blinked at how the dust seemed to swirl around in a giant tornado of particles that strove to irritate her allergies and cause her to have a sinus headache that didn’t seem to want to go away. She went over and grabbed the cloth over the light fixture hanging from the ceiling, ripped it down – she noticed the fixture was a smaller version of the expensive looking chandelier in the foyer - and took it to the patio where she shook the thing out, then watched in fascination as thick clumps fell like rocks in the air and were shot down in the rain, despite a large amount already coming off from when she ripped it down.

Damn, how long has this place been like this?

“Jarvis, how long has it been since anyone’s been here?” Ellie asked as she folded the fabric, draping it over her arm as she looked at the suit.

“ _Approximately thirty years, not including the extra safety measures_ Sir _had installed recently_.”

Oh, Sweet Baby Jesus.

“Did Tony grow up here or something?”

“ _This house was indeed where he was brought up, and it was owned by his father before he died and willed it to his son_.”

Well. That explained a few things.

She took in a deep breath, “Alright, mind helping me in cleaning this place up so that it sort of becomes livable?”

“ _I don’t mind at all, Ms. Fionne, but do forgive me if I have to leave you. If anyone unauthorized walks onto the perimeter I have to assess the situation and possibly engage hostiles_.”

Ellie waved her hand absentmindedly, “Go right ahead.”

She grabbed the fabric covering the canopy of the bed and did the same to it as she did the one covering the lights, slowly making the place less neglected and more habitable. Though, she wrinkled her nose at the fact that she needed some way to get rid of the dust that seemed to permeate everything in the room.

Then she sneezed. Seven times.

The suit looked at her with a tilted head as it held a cloth Jarvis pulled from a nearby chair, “ _Are you alright, Ms. Fionne?_ ”

She groaned a little and blinked as she rubbed her eyes, “All of this dust is wreaking havoc on my allergies, that’s all.”

It was gonna be a long process.

-

After about two hours of cleaning and some creative use of the _super_ low-level repulsor blasts, along with many sneezing sessions and the emergence of a sinus migraine, her room had now look like it had never been touched by the accursed grey stuff. Sighing, she landed face first into the bed with her arms straight out, a feeling of tiredness washing over her as the day’s events caught up to her.

“Jarvis, what time is it?”

A short pause, “ _Three forty-five in the afternoon, Ms. Fionne._ ”

She groaned; it wasn’t even nowhere close to six and she was already dead –

_Grumble-rumble, squelch._

Another groan; she hadn’t eaten since her quick dinner last night when she was helping Tony out with the suits last night.

She raised her head wearily and focused her gaze on Jarvis as he stood at attention on her patio, “Do you mind directing me to where the kitchen is? Given that there is anything _edible_ …”

“ _Unfortunately,_ Sir _had neglected to fill the non-perishable stores when he upgraded the security systems._ ” Jarvis paused, “ _Checking if a Stark Drone unit could deliver food undetected._ ”

Ellie let her head fall back onto the fabric and waved her hand absentmindedly, “Go ‘head.” She let it fall back unceremoniously by her head with an exhale of slight irritation at her current circumstances; hungry, covered in grime and sweat, and slightly chilly in her pajamas.

Why couldn’t Doom had waited until she had at least had breakfast and changed her clothes?

“ _The drone should be here within a half hour._ ”

She waved her hand again, then let it fall and took a deep breath. She adjusted herself to be more comfortable on the soft fabric; she heard the hydraulics of the suit whir and hiss, but noted that Jarvis must not have moved since she didn’t feel any footsteps. She deliriously wondered if Jarvis had sent for some sort of fast food.

The thought of a Stark drone floating in and ordering some sort of value meal was hilarious.

She chuckled at it for a moment before her sound of merriment irritated her migraine, causing her to fall silent and bury her face further into the fabric of the bed. Come to think of it, they did such a good job of cleaning the place the bed didn’t even smell like dust. Of course, that could have been because it had that cloth over it, but still…

There was a small sense of weightlessness that associated itself with her beginning to fall into dreamland before she heard the sound of hydraulic feet thumping against the floor, and felt a gentle metal hand encase her shoulder.

She waved it away, “Jaaaarvis, I got migraine and I just want to nap for a bit…”

“ _Miss… Fionne…_ ” She heard spits and cracks of electricity, and Jarvis’s voice sounded warped slightly.

Ellie quickly jumped out of the hold on her shoulder and rolled onto the other side of the bed, falling into a defensive position as she stared down the being that had a hold of her shoulder.

Lo and behold, it was Doom.

‘ _Remote chance, my ass._ ’

“I hadn’t expected you to see through my guise that easily.” Doom sounded surprised.

“Next time you need to make Jarvis sound less like he had his ass handed to him… that is if you get a next time.” Ellie quickly flickered her eyes around the room but found no Jarvis – where was he?

Doom tilted his head to the side, “Strange…”

Ellie looked back at Doom, “What?”

“I wasn’t emulating Jarvis, much less emulating him poorly…”

What?

“The hell are you talking about you walking, talking can opener?”

“I wasn’t emulating anyone actually…”

Ellie paused.

Doom charged.

_It’s a dream._

Doom was almost right up on her.

_He’s tracking me through a dream._

Ellie fell back as she deftly avoided Doom and rolled off of the bed in her room, then crashed to the floor face first for the second time that day as her hands flew everywhere and her hair blurred her vision.

“ _Ms. Fionne! Are you alright?_ ” Jarvis called out as he quickly made his way over to the fallen Ellie who had been in the midst of a dream.

She groaned as she laid there, then brushed her knotted hair out of her face as she glared up at the ceiling. She sat up and levered herself up on her arm, blinking rapidly as she noticed she had been tucked into the bed as evident by the sheets and comforter splayed everywhere from her rude awakening and her shoes sitting by her side on the floor.

“ _Ms. Fionne?_ ”

Ellie looked up to the AI and sighed, “Yeah I’m fine, just had a weird ass dream about Doom that’s all.”

The AI looked at her for a moment before he offered her a hand and helped her up, “ _If you’re sure, Ms. Fionne. The drone was delayed, but it will be here momentarily_.”

Ellie sat down again on the bed and stretched, then noticed that what little sky that she could see through the now closed doors had darkened since she had went face-first on the bed, “How long have I been out?”

“ _Approximately four hours and fifteen minutes_.” That drone was _really_ delayed, wasn’t it?

She hummed, even though she had been out for four hours it felt she had only been out for a moment. Dreams were weird.

 _He’s tracking me through a dream_.

The thought suddenly crossed her mind again like it had before, which made her straighten her back in alarm and look towards the patio door, “Hey Jarvis…”

The AI looked at her from his position to the right of the patio doors, “ _Yes, Ms. Fionne?_ ”

“Do you mind quickly scanning the perimeter real quick for any weird energy signatures?”

“ _I have already initiated a scan that is eighty percent complete_.”

“Good… good…” Ellie’s words drifted off as she fell into a thoughtful stupor; she honestly hoped that her dream had only been just that, but with Doom and the occult you never know.

She fidgeted as she sat there, her eyes dancing along the stuffy décor that seemed to glow in the setting sun. She sighed and focused her vision on Jarvis, then remembered distantly the sound of sparks and crackling electronics from her dream.

Jarvis turned towards her, “ _Is there something you need, Ms. Fionne?_ ”

Ellie jumped, “No, nothing. I was just thinking about something, that’s all. How’s that scan coming along?”

“ _The scan is currently ninety percent complete with no hostiles detected_.”

She fidgeted some more.

And there was silence.

Uneventful silence.

…

Then Jarvis quickly stood at attention. “ _Unknown entity detected; investigating._ ”

The AI quickly walked towards the patio doors and opened one, then he stepped outside as his head swayed back and forth. Ellie had already left the warmth of the covers and had been slowly following Jarvis out the door, staying close behind him in case Doom decided to pop up like he seemed to do. Jarvis stopped at the railing and looked out to the surrounding area, his metal hands going over the stone as he looked out.

After what seemed like an eternity Jarvis finally turned back around and faced Ellie, “ _Unknown entity identified; common pigeon_.”

Ellie relaxed and let out a breath she didn’t know she had been holding, then wrapped her arms closer around herself as the cold night air wafted around her. She opened her mouth in a yawn–

Jarvis all of a sudden dove for Ellie and pulled her behind him, startling the hell out of her and making her dizzy for a moment.

“Jarvis, _what the hell–?!_ ”

“I’m surprised, yet again. Stark seems to have made you particularly perceptive… or at the very least gave you the capacity to be so.”

Ellie peeked out over Jarvis’ shoulder to see Doom standing just a few feet from where she had been.

‘ _Holy shit…_ ’

Jarvis just stood there silently staring down the half-human, half robot.

“And quiet.”

“What do you want, asshole?” Ellie called out.

Doom chuckled, “That’s the second idiotic question you’ve asked me today, little girl.”

Ellie felt a vein pop in her head somewhere.

“ _What_ did you just call me, _prick_?”

She felt Jarvis push her back a bit as he seemed to try to distance her more from the super villain, while Doom just laughed.

“My, there’s more of that spunk I witnessed earlier. If a tad more crude.”

Ellie dropped back behind Jarvis while her eyebrow continued to twitch angrily, “I’ll show you crude here in five seconds you god forsaken _tin can_ …” she muttered.

Jarvis turned his head back towards her before he turned back to look at Doom, “ _I have to ask you to leave, sir. If you don’t we cannot be held responsible for what might happen to your person or personal property._ ”

Doom just stood there.

“ _You were warned, sir._ ”

Jarvis shot forward like a wild animal and tackled Doom to the ground, then picked up the metal man and threw him in a random direction that sent him crashing through some unseen furniture. Ellie just watched as Jarvis disappeared from her vision, hearing more crunches and snaps as wood and stone alike was destroyed in the wake of their altercation.

She jumped as Doom and Jarvis went flying through a window and into the courtyard, both landing on their sides before quickly jumping up and attacking each other again.

‘ _I’ve got to get out of here so I don’t pummeled by accident… or in case Jarvis loses.’_

Ellie quickly dove back inside and deftly avoided the shrapnel from their previous attack, slipped on her shoes, and dashed through the door then down the hall. Ignoring the fact that she couldn’t quite remember how they made it up to her room in the first place, she just took any and all staircases she could to reach the first floor.

Hitting the ground floor at last, she ran through the halls towards the direction where she knew the sun was setting; if her memory served correct, the entrance to the house was the furthest away from the sun when they had arrived here this morning.

 _Bingo_.

She couldn’t help but grin wildly as she found the familiar foyer, and couldn’t help but note that yes, she did leave footsteps in the dust.

She dashed through the spacious room and pulled on the door handle.

It wouldn’t budge.

_The thick slab of the door automatically shut and locked behind the two with several loud clicks and thuds, causing Ellie to look towards it in fascination._

Well, shit.

Ellie quickly took another look around and went towards one of the windows. She tried unlocking and opening the glass and had the same amount of success as she had with the door; when she really looked she found that the dust had been massively disturbed around each and every one of the windows in the room.

Well, _shit_.

She huffed, then grabbed the nearest thing to her – which was an old lamp – and threw it against the window.

Only for it to bounce back – she had to jump out of the way to avoid it smacking into her – and watch as the delicate embellishments on it shattered against the floor.

 _Well, shit_.

Not giving up, Ellie quickly abandoned her idea of going through the front door and made her way to one of the bedrooms. She quickly opened the door and took a look around, huffing again at the fact that this one didn’t have a patio like her room had. She then darted to another, coming to the same conclusion.

And then another.

Then another.

Then _another_.

_Then another._

**_Then another._ **

**_ Then another – _ **

She half-yelled as she opened yet another door that didn’t have a patio.

Then screamed as Jarvis was sent flying through a wall in the room she was looking into, with Doom casually stepping through the hole. Jarvis laid prone on the ground, the sound coming through the speakers crackling as the AI's voice wafted through them.

“ _Miss… Fionne…_ ”

A chill went up Ellie’s back.

“ ** _Run…!_** _”_

 _Well, **shit**_.

Ellie quickly turned on her heel and ran as hard as she could down the hall, Doom hot on her tail as he pursued her like a savage animal going for it’s dinner.

She toppled a chair and sprinted around a corner, a small grin gracing her face as Doom grunted and presumably tripped and fell with a loud _thunk_ , but she didn’t dwell on the thought as she looked for an escape.

Doom thundered through a wall in front of her, causing her to slip onto her hind-end from how hard she stopped.

**_ WELL, SHIT! _ **

She clawed at the ground as she dug her feet into the ground and sprinted away from Doom, internally screaming a little as she felt the wind from his hand missing her foot by mere inches.

Ellie toppled a bookcase onto Doom and jumped over the chair she had tumbled in the hallway earlier, then made a mad dash to the suit by cutting through a room and jumped through the holes made from the impact.

She came up on the suit while Jarvis managed to raise his head slightly.

“ _Miss… Fionne… my conne-connection to th-th-the su-u-u-u-u-it…_ ”

Ellie shook her head as she jumped for the suit.

“ _JUST LET ME IN IT JARVIS!_ ” she screamed.

Understanding, the suit quickly turned into pieces and flew up around Ellie’s form as she rolled, then quickly brought her hands up as the repulsors came on line…

And blasted a too-close-for-comfort Doom in the face.

He cried out in pain as he was sent flying backwards into some more expensive furniture, crushing it completely under his weight.

Ellie got to her feet and jostled herself a bit as the suit hastily made readjustments to its initial formation, untangling her hair and clothes from the machinery. That was probably the side affect of it not being able to conform around other people mid-move, getting tangled and snagged in clothes and hair.

Doom slowly got to his feet, bits and pieces of wood falling from his shoulders as he dusted himself off and stared Ellie down.

She stared right back at him through the visor.

“Well, well, well… so it _was_ you on the battle field yesterday.”

Ellie charged forward and tackled Doom through the corner of the room, then raised her hand and sent another repulsor blast into his face, which had to burn since she seemed to super heat the metal.

Doom screamed a blood curdling yowl, jumping back and grasping at his metal face.

She jumped back quickly as Doom took a swipe at her with a sword procured out of thin air.

Once. Twice. Thrice she dodged his attacks, then fired a repulsor blast and sent him flying again.

She raised her fist and hit him square in the jaw, pivoting the man’s head with the sheer strength and momentum she put into the attack.

He quickly spun out of the way as she tried to clobber him in the face again and conjured a ball of energy, which quickly turned into spastic tendrils of electricity as his hand shot out.

Ellie quickly raised her arms in an attempt to defend herself, various alarms ringing loudly in her ears at the electricity coursed through the armor.

When the blinding light of the attack subsided, she noticed that the power level on the suit had been overcharged to two hundred and five percent.

She sprinted forward and raised her feet up, then kicked him with both legs as she activated the repulsors on her feet.

Doom flew through another wall and went careening into the woods outside, stopping when he finally came face-to-face with a thick tree trunk.

She walked through the hole and marched up to the prone figure of Doom as he lay there in the dirt, his clothes singed, torn, and dirty from the fight with the AI and Ellie. He managed to turn onto his back as she stopped beside him, the repulsor in her hand ready to fire as she raised it up and aimed it at his face.

“ _I suggest you stay put unless you want the unibeam up your ass._ ”

Doom just dropped his head back down into the dirt, an exhausted huff of air blowing past his lips.  
 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry that the fight was cut short and a little lack-luster, and that the chapter was short. In the grand scale of things, I kind of consider Doom to be on the lower end of the villain pool. Especially since the line-up I got planned is _epic_. That, and I have every arc planned out by the chapter so I hit the chapter ceiling for this one. I probably could have put in more, but I honestly couldn't think of anymore.
> 
> Also, he kind of got his ass handed to him by Jarvis beforehand and Doom's combatants didn't really give him time to think, so in my mind he wouldn't have had time to use his "Mind-Switch" capabilities. My story, my rules.


	8. Done Been Adopted Now

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Shameless filler... maybe.

Ellie yawned and stretched as she awoke, her back popping deliciously as built up gas in her joints escaped. With blinking, dreary eyes she leaned up and slid to the edge of the bed, slouched over in her half-asleep state then rising to her feet and walking out of her room with her returned purple fabric in hand.

“Mornin’ Jarvis…” she mumbled. She rolled back her shoulders as she went straight for the cupboard, “What’s going on out there in the big, bad world?”

“ _Good morning, Ms. Fionne. It is currently nine am and currently eighty-five degrees, sunny with a small chance of rain later on in the evening; temperatures are…_ ” Jarvis continued to drone on about the weather, stocks, and various other things as Ellie prepared her breakfast.

She stuck a spoon in her bowl and walked to the couch, sitting down carefully as she took a bite. She put the spoon back into the bowl and reached for the remote, pressing a button and activating the television in front on her. She flipped through the channels for a moment before landing on _Fox_ _News_ , covering the events of a week before when Ellie and the Avengers had dispelled _Dr_. Doom – one of the anchors had been very adamant about his title – and his robot lackeys, and the second time they attacked. They were talking about the international tension that Doom had started or some sort of rabble with his stunt, but to be honest, Ellie never liked Doom so it didn’t matter to her.

She sat there mesmerized as they played clips of the fight, now watching it happen from a bystander’s perspective; she couldn’t help but grin a little when her suit clad-self came in and kicked some serious metallic servos, which was a little boost to her hurt pride after her little head butting session with some of the Avengers later on that particular day, on top of having the credit of finally taking down the metal clad villain. Though, the bruise on her side definitely looked really nasty the last time she checked but thankfully didn’t hurt… much.

Ellie swallowed her bite of cereal before scooping up another, rubbing her side a little with her other hand.

The playboy seemed to trust her now, if it wasn’t evident enough by him letting her into his playground of sorts and finally taking off the house arrest bangles. Which was fun - the whole playground thing, not the whole removal of the bracelets - and it made Ellie regret not taking some sort of technology classes in High school. Well, not that she could have anyway because they were never offered, which was something that was being rectified now thanks to the billionaire.

 _It’d be a waste of your potential_ not _to send you, and I would be greatly offended if you didn’t. And don’t forget you came here with only those clothes on your back so… I win._

That’s Tony had said when he had sprung the idea on her a week ago, then somehow had managed to get all of the necessary tests and such out of the way in record time. He was a little dismayed at her initial mathematical fallout but resolved to fix that as long as she was willing, so now she was doing long sessions of rehabilitative classes to help bring her to speed. 

And it was the most boring and frustrating thing in her life. She didn’t even know that those two things could exist in the same sentence.

And she still didn't like the fact that she wasn't paying for it herself.

Ellie shrugged, brushing away the thought as a certain blonde came to mind. Steve seemed to have taken more of a distant stance with her, but wasn’t completely opposed to her. Natasha didn’t seem to have any negative opinion though she rarely had seen the assassin so she couldn’t really form an opinion about her, and Bruce seemed to be pretty friendly. She hadn’t seen the archer for a while, probably on a mission of some sort.

 “ _Well, the biggest chatter about the fight was not about Dr. Doom attacking, but the feminine figure in an Iron Man suit coming in at the last minute as backup. Does anyone know who she – or he – is?_ ”

Ellie sat up a little straighter.

The woman anchor jumped in, “ _Official statements from Stark Inc. say that they were testing out a new configuration of the suit to see if the smaller figure would do better in combat._ ”

“ _But do you really think that was the case?_ ”

“ _Not really, no, because the suit reacts too much like an inexperienced fighter. We’ve seen Tony Stark’s AI in action when it needs to take over and do battle, but this particular Iron Man fighter fought completely different._ ”

Ellie sighed and her eye twitched.

 _Well, **shit**_.

“ _Stark’s AI uses combat experience from Mr. Stark and various hand-to-hand combat specialists to form numerous attacks that vary from situation to situation,_ ” They played the clip of the armored AI dispatching enemies with quick moves and the finesse of a master.

“ _While the new fighter,_ ” they pulled up Ellie’s video, “ _Was definitely lacking in that category. Though they held their own, the fighting style never changed unlike what we’ve previously seen from before;_ _according to our sources they made a lot of rookie mistakes._ ”

The woman anchor knitted her eyebrows together as Ellie tipped her bowl back to drink up the milk in her bowl which was now cereal-less, “ _So you think that Stark and the Avengers are hiding a new member of their group_?”

“ _Possibly; a week or so ago people had reported strange lights appearing in and around Stark’s California residence before the area had been swarmed by unmarked vehicles and dark-clothed forces armed to the teeth about ten minutes later, then pulling out what looked like a pajama-clad female with a black hood over her head. No one can quite say for sure what’s going on._ ”

Ellie faced palmed and rubbed her temples as frustration bubbled in her arms and temples. Sighing again she removed her hand and got up, then took her bowl to the kitchen where she rinsed out the remnants of milk that hadn’t wanted to be consumed.

“ _Ms. Fionne?_ ” called out the AI butler.

Ellie raised her head, “Yes?”

“ _Ms. Romanov_ _has requested your presence at the training room._ ”

Ellie thinned her lips in suspicion, “Did she say what for?”

“ _She did not specify_.”

Ellie narrowed her eyes.

Then sighed as she opened the dishwasher and put her dirty dishes away, “Alright, tell her I’ll be up in a second.”

“ _Yes, Ms. Fionne._ ” The AI paused for a moment, “ _She also requests you bring athletic wear._ ”

Ellie paused.

_She didn’t have any athletic wear._

-

Ellie tentatively stepped out of the elevator in her jeans and plain t-shirt, spying the former S.H.I.E.L.D agent stretching on what looked like a long bar attached to a mirror wall, sort of like the ones ballerinas used to practice their form, and she was clad in what looked like all-black workout clothes.

The spy completed her move and turned, her face changing to sport a frown as she took in Ellie’s attire.

“Why aren’t you wearing gym clothes?”

Ellie sheepishly rubbed the back of her head, “When I came through to this universe all I had was my blanket and the clothes on my back, so Pepper had supplied me with some things. Unfortunately gym clothes wasn’t a part of that line up.”

Natasha pursed her lips. “Right. Okay then.” She walked over to the nervous brunette and linked her arm into Ellie’s, making her swivel on her heel in order to not end up walking backwards and falling at the pace the taller woman had set, “I guess we’ll get you some then.”

Ellie sputtered, “Uh, are you sure that’s a good idea? Won’t people barrage us because you’re an Avenger?”

Natasha spun in place, which forced Ellie to run in a circle to keep her arm from being ripped out of its socket, “I’m not a well-known Avenger like Tony or Steve, so we shouldn’t be bothered unless one of my previous employers show up…”

Ellie quirked an eyebrow, “My, wouldn’t that be interesting.”

“I’d imagine so.” Natasha gave Ellie a once over, “Do you wear smalls or mediums?”

Ellie blinked, “Smalls.”

The spy nodded, “Alright, shouldn’t be too difficult to find you something.”

“Where exactly are we going?”

“I was thinking we should hit a store specifically tailored to what we’re looking for, probably Nike or Adidas outlet store.”

Ellie nodded, “Okay, how are we paying for this?”

“I am.” Natasha answered simply.

Ellie sputtered again, “Are you sure?”

“Do you have any cash on you?”

Ellie curled her lips down as she remembered how she came to be in the Marvel Universe.

“Right, I see your point.”

“Good, that means I won’t be hearing any complaints from you, right?”

Ellie narrowed her eyes at the red head, “Depends on what I’m complaining about.”

The elevator _dinged_ as they came down to the ground floor, and Natasha smiled as she pulled the suspicious brunette through the doors and into the parking garage that was hidden underneath Avengers Tower.

“I have a feeling you and I are going to be having _so_ much fun today.”

-

 _Fun_ being a delicate word.

Ellie had never liked clothes shopping; it was never something she had gotten into and to be honest she thought it was a hassle what with all of the constant pulling off and pulling on clothes, and debating over how it fits and such. She usually avoided clothing shops like the plague, and her wardrobe reflected that since all of the styles she had were at most a decade old and a few shirts had holes in the bottom hems.

Hell, she still had the same underwear from when she was in the last year of middle school.

Even though it was a bit of a battle with the clothes, Natasha proved to be quite the entertaining shopping companion with her sarcastic and sassy responses to Ellie’s half-hearted attitude.

“You act like I’m prepping you for auction.”

Case-in-point.

Ellie huffed as she opened the door to the changing room stall and showed off her outfit she was trying on, which consisted of a white tank top with black hems and a faux bra sewn along with the word _Strong_ emblazoned on the front of it with the word’s definition, and black athletic capris that were apparently a specialized pair designed to have optimum moisture wicking properties.

“It feels like I am.”

Natasha rolled her eyes and grinned, then looked closer at Ellie’s form as she motioned for the girl to do a slow spin. “I think that these look really good on you, and I love that top.”

Ellie couldn’t help but have a small smile grow on her face, “To be honest, I actually like this despite the fact that it isn’t bra-friendly.” She readjusted the fabric to cover her white bra, though it didn’t seem to do much good.

Natasha shrugged, “You’ll be working out so it won’t be a problem.” She gathered up the other outfits that had passed her inspection in one arm and grabbed the rejects in the other, “Come on, get dressed and let’s pay for these so we can head on back.”

Ellie nodded as she walked back in and locked the door behind her, “You still haven’t told me _what_ I needed these clothes for.”

“It will all be revealed in due time.” Natasha said mysteriously as her voice drifted off, presumably to walk down to the clerk for the dressing rooms and wait for her.

Ellie huffed again as she pulled her own shirt over her head and on her now naked torso, then replaced the capris with her jeans, and secured her shoes on her feet. She nabbed the discarded clothes and opened the door to walk out-

And almost walked straight into another woman.

“Oh! Whoops, sorry. Didn’t see you there.”

The woman twitched in the attempt of a smile, “That’s okay.” She swiftly moved to Ellie’s left, “Let me un-obstruct your path.”

Ellie blinked as she walked passed the woman, alarm bells ringing distantly in her head. “Sure… thanks.”

As quickly as she could, Ellie half-ran down the hallway to where Natasha was standing. Natasha, upon seeing Ellie’s quirked expression, furrowed her eyebrows.

“You having second thoughts?”

Ellie shook her head, “No, I just had a weird experience with some lady.”

“How?”

“I think she might have been waiting for me outside of my stall because I almost ran into her, and she said ‘ _Let me un-obstruct your path_.’” Ellie just frowned more and walked through the doorway after handing the clerk the number sign she was given earlier, “It was weird.”

Natasha looked behind Ellie to spy a woman quickly ducking into a stall after she made eye contact with her, “Yeah… that’s weird.” She grabbed the clothes in Ellie’s hand and motioned for her to go forward, “Let’s get out of here then.”

Ellie went forward and towards the cash register, “No arguments there.”

Natasha followed close behind, looking behind them every once in a while as they made their way across the sales floor and eventually to the checkout line. She even subtlety peeked over every once in a while as she paid for the items, a suspicious and careful eye watching the entire floor.

Items bagged, she grabbed them and they quickly walked out the front. The red head clicked a button on the key fob and unlocked the Stark Car, her pace quick and urgent as she opened her car door and slipped inside with ease, then quickly starting the car before Ellie had completely settled in her seat.

She only marginally relaxed when they were driving down the road, “Sorry about that.”

Ellie waved her hand dismissively, “Its fine – that lady freaked me the hell out and I didn’t want to stick around to find out anything.”

“Speaking of, what did she look like?”

Ellie’s face became screwed in thought, “Unassuming; dark hair and plain features, no scars or anything...”

“Are you sure you couldn’t remember more?”

“No, but I can tell you that her accent was definitely plain. Like if she was trying to be a stereotypical American.”

Natasha nodded, “Might explain a few things if she’s a foreigner trying to blend in; her English is probably a little off.”

“The _un-obstruct_ part kind of gave it away, personally.”

“That was a little weird…” Natasha sighed, “Well, there’s nothing we can do now. If the place had cameras we can have Jarvis comb through the footage to see if he can get an image of her.” She shifted gears as she changed speed, “Until we hear anything, we’ll go ahead with our plan.”

“Which you still haven’t told me about.”

“You’ll find out soon enough.”

“You keep saying that, and yet I keep getting a bad feeling about it.”

Natasha smirked, “Now you’re just being paranoid.”

Ellie raised an eyebrow at Natasha, “I think it’s warranted given your track record.”

Natasha quickly shot her a look, “Hey now, you know I don’t do that anymore.”

Ellie rolled her eyes as she tried hiding a smile, “Right; you sure about that?”

Natasha schooled her features to stone, “If I tell ya, I have to kill ya.”

Ellie laughed.

-

The young woman blinked as she took in what the spy had spoken, her brain slowly coming to grips with the words that had graced her ears.

“You… want to teach me hand-to-hand combat?”

The red head nodded, “Yes.”

Ellie blinked again, “Are… you sure that’s a good idea?”

The spy nodded again, “Yes.”

Ellie huffed a small breath and rolled her shoulders, “Alright, if you insist on it…”

Natasha quickly swung her leg out at Ellie’s head.

The brunette quickly ducked down and back away, raising up her arms to guard her head.

She yelped as all of a sudden her feet were knocked out from underneath her, but instinctively rolled to the side.

As she quickly got to her feet she dodged seven more attacks Natasha threw at her, always keeping a distance between her and the assassin.

Natasha once again threw a kick but Ellie jumped away too quickly for it to land. She huffed, “Ellie, as impressive as your abilities to dodge are, you’re gonna need to throw a punch if you want to take me down!”

As she said that, she threw another punch that Ellie danced out of the way of.

And felt the sting of a punch landing on her cheek.

Dazed slightly, she backed away and guarded as Ellie threw her own set of punches high and low, and surprisingly a good few of them landed.

The last one knocked the wind out of Natasha.

Grunting, she grabbed the flying fist of Ellie’s and rolled into her momentum…

To throw her over her shoulder.

Ellie cried out as all of a sudden her world tumbled over her head, instinctively bringing her feet up underneath her in the flash of a millisecond and jumped forward.

She twirled back towards the spy and moved to the side as she threw an uppercut.

Then she felt the full force of Natasha tackling her into the wall.

Growling slightly, Ellie took her elbow and lodged it in the back of Natasha, causing the female to loosen her grip and give Ellie the upper hand as she pushed back.

She managed to push the red head off of her and kicked.

That was her mistake.

The spy caught it and twisted her ankle, forcing Ellie to have to turn her back on the spy as she held the foot hostage.

Natasha panted heavily, but in the mirror Ellie could see she had a huge grin on her face.

“Not bad… not bad at all.”  She patted Ellie’s leg before she let it go, signaling the end of the fight. “You seem to be a natural at this.”

Ellie shrugged as she bent over slightly with her hands on her knees, “My Dad was a natural fighter too- couldn’t ever knock him off his feet. _Good base_ , he said.” Ellie grinned, “He said his friends would constantly flip him just to see him land on his feet.”

As Ellie rose back up Natasha crossed her arms.

“Well, time will tell how good you’ll be.”

She walked back to the middle of the room and got into position.

“Come on, I’m going to show you a few things…”

-

Ellie squealed once more as she was thrown over Natasha’s shoulder for the fourth time, her vision swaying slightly as her head tried to catch up with the rest of her body.

“ _Good_ , that was good.” Natasha grinned as she peered down at Ellie, “You’re getting better at this.”

Ellie groaned.

Natasha offered her hand, “Come on, let’s take a break.”

She blinked, “Just a break?”

“Yep. We’ve still got a couple more things to do.”

Ellie groaned again.

Natasha pulled the reluctant female up and gave her shoulder a light smack, “Come on now, stop being such a wuss about it. This is _much_ easier than my training was.”

“That was because they were turning you into a female killing machine, not just teach you _basic self-defense_.”

Natasha tsked as she pulled Ellie by the hand towards the elevator, the doors of which magically opened while the young woman dragged slightly in theatrical exhaustion, “I said I was teaching you hand-to-hand, not just self-defense.” Natasha said smartly.

Ellie grumbled.

“What was that? I couldn’t hear you?”

“Nothing.” Natasha narrowed her eyes at Ellie, and the young woman backed away slightly, “N-nothing, I swear.”

The older woman hummed, then pulled her completely into the elevator, “Jarvis, take us up to the common area.”

“ _Yes, ma’am._ ”

The electrical box whirred to life as it pulled them up, the cheery music playing over the intercom as they stood there in silence.

Ellie tilted her head, “Isn’t this _Up_ by Shania Twain?”

Natasha shrugged, “Probably.”

Ellie nodded.

Natasha bumped her shoulder, “I was being serious back there – for your first day you’re not doing badly at all. I expected much less out of you.”

The young woman waved her hand, “Don’t mention it. If it makes you feel any better I fully expected you to flip me over and kick my ass multiple times, and you definitely met those expectations.”

Natasha chuckled, “Glad to hear it.”

Ellie paused as a thought occurred to her.

“Hey, why are you even teaching me this stuff anyway?”

The red head regarded her for a moment, “Well, now that you took Doom head-on you might have put yourself on someone’s radar, and the fact that since you’re still legally under Tony’s care means that you’ve got a target on your back should any of his enemies want to come after him. I wanted you to have a fighting chance at least.”

Ellie nodded again, “Makes sense, I guess.” Ellie looked back at the metal doors, “Thanks for caring – it’s more than my own father did.”

“Yeah that reminds me,” Natasha’s eyebrows furrowed as she crossed her arms, “Why didn’t he take it upon himself to teach you anything if he knew how to fight so well?”

Ellie huffed, “His biggest excuse was that I was too weak to really have a fighting chance against a man, so he just told me which areas to hit to make the guy stagger so I could run.”

Natasha glared slightly as she looked back towards the doors, “That seems stupid to me.”

“That was what I thought too, but I could never get him to change his mind.”

The older spy uncrossed her arms and bumped Ellie on the shoulder again, “Well, you’re being taught now so that problem’s solved.” She leaned closer, “Plus, despite Tony and Steve being ticked at you for jumping into the Doom fight, they’re actually impressed on how you handled yourself considering your lack of experience. Especially when Doom came after you the second time.”

Ellie waved her hand again, “Been there, done that, _really_ don’t want to it again unless I have to.”

The elevator dinged as they arrived on their desired floor.

“You sure about that?”

Ellie looked at the spy, “Why?”

The red head walked through the door and turned back around to face Ellie, “Honestly, I wouldn’t mind having you on the team- once you were properly trained and all that. We could use another fighter out there.”

Ellie walked through the doors and crossed her arms, “Why me and not someone who’s already battle ready?”

“Because they’re either fighting for S.H.I.E.L.D, not interested, or missing.”

Ellie stopped; the elevator doors silently closed behind her, “Right.”

Natasha smiled as she threw her arm over Ellie’s shoulders and walked them forward, the young woman trying everything in her power _not_ to tense up at the unexpected contact, “Besides, when you’re part of the Avengers you get great pay and benefits… time off and vacation isn’t a given though.”

Ellie rolled her eyes as Natasha walked into the kitchen and Ellie sat down at the breakfast bar, “I expected nothing less.”

“And there’s an exponential increased chance of dying on the job.”

“I also expected that.”

Natasha tossed Ellie a water bottle that she pulled from the fridge, “You also get to be famous if you want to be.”

“That’s always a given.”

The red head sat down next to the brunette as she took a swig, “And you could actively research a way to get home too.”

That made Ellie go quiet.

Natasha rose an eyebrow at her silence, “No witty comeback?”

Ellie slowly screwed the top back on her bottle and sat it down in front of her, eyes far away as she processed what Natasha said; her eyes were hooded by the bangs that fell from her ponytail.

“Where would I even know where to start?” she asked quietly.

Natasha’s face showed empathy as she turned towards the other woman, “I don’t know. But I _know_ that you won’t stop until you know.”

Ellie looked back at the spy with a searching look, “How do you know that?”

“Because if I was in your parent’s position I’d move heaven and earth to find you, knowing you’d be doing the same thing, and that hopefully we’d meet up somewhere in the middle.”

Ellie searched Natasha’s face for a moment, looking for any sign of deception or dishonesty and was content to find none of either. She smiled, “Thank you.”

Natasha nodded, “Anytime.”

“You know, I had you pegged as a snarky, cold dominatrix but you surprise me still, Nat.”

The females turned as the billionaire himself walked in, striding into the kitchen himself and opening the fridge to pull out what looked like some sort of takeout, and pulling out a fork from a drawer and leaning against the counter.

Ellie just sighed and leaned back as she crossed her arms, “You sure know how to kill the mood, Tony.”

Natasha just rolled her eyes as she slowly turned towards Tony, “To you, Tony, I _am_ a snarky, cold dominatrix.”

“Oh, you wound me so.”

Ellie wrinkled her nose slightly, “Tony, how old is that stuff?”

Tony paused as he spun his fork inside the box, his eyebrow wrinkling as he pondered for a moment. “I’m… not sure.”

“You might not want to eat that, then.”

Tony sniffed the contents, then quickly jerked his head back, “Yeah, that’d be a good idea, Fins.”

Ellie rolled her eyes as the man took out his fork, dumped the old Chinese into the trashcan, threw the contaminated fork into the sink, and then watched him as he reopened the fridge and look in it again.

She paused as something finally  _clicked_ in her mind.

 

“Did you… seriously just call me _Fins_?”

 

“Yeah, so _?_ ”

Ellie’s face went blank, “I go by Ellie.”

“Too bad; your full name, your uncanny ability to hold a tune, Floridian heritage, and occasional blood-red hair has deemed you to be Fins in honor of the Disney-fied version of Hans Christian’s half-fish person.”

Ellie’s eye twitched. “My nickname is Ellie.”

“Don’t care.”

“Old man do _not_ make me kick your ass.”

“Like you could.”

“Don’t underestimate me.”

“I wouldn’t.” Natasha added, “She’s a mean fighter and I haven’t even got to the good parts of her training yet; she even got a few good hits on me.”

“Did she now?” Tony turned around with a Tupperware container of _non_ -spoiled food and regarded Ellie slowly as he sized her up, sticking a new fork into it’s contents, “Well, that’s a surprise. Then again, _I_ can get a jump on Natasha so that doesn’t really say much.”

“ _Bullshit_.” The spy spat, “I was drunk and you were trying out a new stealth suit- in real hand-to-hand I’d kick your ass. And I have.”

Tony waved his hand with a bite of food in the teeth of his fork as he dismissed the notion of Natasha being a better fighter, “Whatever. I still got the jump on you.”

He ducked as a water bottle flew at his head.

He slowly rose back to a standing position with an eyebrow raised, “Who threw that?”

Ellie and Natasha looked at each other, then looked at Tony innocently.

“ _I didn’t do it._ ”

They both said at the same time.

With the same tone. Same volume. Same pitch.

As one.

It was creepy as hell.

Tony’s eye twitched, “I’m regretting letting you get close to Natasha.”

Ellie grinned.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, things seem to be running smoothly don't they? I'm sorry the chapter is so short, but there wasn't really much to add to it without it blending into what it shouldn't have... Don't worry, things will kick up soon enough. I'm far from done with Ellie.
> 
> Far from done.


	9. Man, Here Comes Trouble

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A wee bit of action.

_July 25 th, 2013_

Ellie laid down her pen and stretched, leaning back a little in her chair. Her finished essay sat in front of her as a gleaming testament to her writing prowess as the other students around her still furiously scratched out words on their papers, one of which seemed to notice Ellie’s movements and let a wave of exasperation ripple over their face before going back to their scribbles.

Ellie smirked.

Literary works had always been her specialty and was as easy as breathing to her, and not to gloat but when she took Chemistry back in High School she wrote an editorial about _Ph_ that her teacher was so impressed with that he showed it off to all the English teachers, who then began using it as an example for their classes. Of course, she didn’t learn about this until _after_ High School.

What probably astonished him the most though was that the paper was her first and only draft.

Digressing back to the present; Ellie, once she had a firm grasp on the advanced concepts of her class found the essay to be rather easy. The topic had been pretty vague, and since the professor decided to be so directionless about it the others were probably sweating in their boots about what he wanted out of them.

So, Ellie decided to get really complicated with it and talk about things that she knew went over a couple people’s heads in class.

Said professor also noticed her stretching and her relaxed posture.

Raising an eyebrow, he rose from his seat and began walking up to Ellie’s desk. When he got there some of the other students stopped writing to look over at him, eyes uncertain as they took in the scene before they went back to their essays.

“I take it you’re finished?” asked the professor.

Ellie picked up her papers and pointed them over to the man, “Yes, sir.”

He delicately took the papers from her hand and quickly scanned through them, his eyebrows furrowed slightly and continuing to furrow as time went on. After he read through the last page he turned back towards Ellie with a peculiar look in his eye.

“This is your first draft?”

Ellie nodded.

He looked back at the paper, and then looked back at Ellie. He mumbled something unintelligible as he tucked the essay underneath him arm, “You can leave class whenever you’d like, Ms. Fionne, since we’re only working on first drafts today.”

She nodded as she gathered her things, “Thank you Professor, I’ll see you next week.”

He nodded absentmindedly as he walked away, the other students once again staring between the two of them.

Throwing her bag over her shoulder, Ellie made her way down the class and walked out the door into the silent hallway, her shoes barely thudding against the sealed asbestos tiles of the floor. She quickly brought out her Stark Phone and checked the time – this was her only class of the day supposedly a whopping three hours and she was already finished up in one. _It was only ten thirty_.

To be honest, when your teachers in public schools expect you to finish an essay in forty-five minutes and have some semblance of intellect it isn’t too far of a stretch that Ellie could easily do it in an hour.

As she looked away from the device and slipped it into her pocket, she pushed through the doors of the building and made her way to the main hub – so to speak – of the college where the cafeteria, some shops, and a few restaurants were located where most of the student body hung out on their downtime when they weren’t home, in their dorms, or at some frat party. Ellie’s feet carried her forward as a certain café came to mind with some fabulous pastries and coffee, and of course a certain barista that always seemed to add a little extra flair whenever she came in.

He was cute to boot too.

Ellie heard the bell _chime_ as she walked through the door, said barista turning his head and locking his doe eyes on her face. A smile lit up his features as he walked towards the cash register, a wide smile on his face as she came up to the counter, “Hey, there. You done with class already?”

“Yep.” She answered.

He shook his head, “That’s a new record.”

“Tell me about it.” She peered at the menu, “Is there anything new?”

He shrugged, “Not really, just the same old stuff. You want the usual?”

She nodded, “Yes please.”

After handing over her payment, she moved to the pickup area and waited for her food to arrive. Thank God for the scholarships she managed to earn - without them she wouldn’t have afforded to go to school - and after Tony forced her through all of those grueling remedial classes it felt like someone just flipped a switch in her brain and math no longer became that savage beast she couldn’t tame, much to her satisfaction.

She stopped.

No, Tony would have forced her to go to college either way. But she preferred to have earned it from her own hard work and dedication, though she still owed him a lot.

She blinked back into the present as her thoughts drew themselves to a close, “How’s business been?”

The young man didn’t look up from his mixing, “It’s been steady, though now with mostly everyone in class it’s been quiet. I think everyone’s doing some sort of final exams to finish up the summer classes.”

Ellie nodded, “I know that’s what my classes are doing right now- the last one was where we were tasked with writing an essay on the judicial system.”

“Sounds exciting.”

“Eh, it was pretty vague, so I decided to spice it up a bit; I really got into how the branch has been overstepping its boundaries and how the system of check and balances seems to have been largely ignored in favor of more governmental control being routed to one individual or a small group of like-minded individuals in spite of the system’s original founding principal being for the greater good of the majority.”

He whistled, “That’s quite an editorial you’ve got there.”

She shrugged, “I may have also wanted to prove a point.”

He chuckled, “You seem to be the kind of person who’s outspoken and not afraid of it.” He grinned with a light pink twinge on his cheeks as he laid down her white chocolate mocha and cheese Danish on a small tray, “Enjoy.”

She smiled back, “Thanks; and I’ve always prided myself on being frank and truthful.”

He chuckled again, “Never change, ma’am. Never change.”

She picked up the tray and walked backwards slowly, “I don’t plan to.”

He bid her farewell as another customer walked into the shop, the customer is question had her brown hair tucked back into a ponytail and was decked out in what seemed to be the clothes of a teacher’s assistant. Shrugging, Ellie picked her usual seat and sat down, setting her tray to the side as she pulled out her Stark Laptop and booted it up. Starting up Word and opening the previous file she had been working on before – which was another essay she was writing for a contest – she cracked her knuckles, took a swig of her coffee, a bite of her Danish, and set to work.

A whole Danish, half cup of her coffee, and thousands of clicks and strokes later she sat back and reviewed her writings for errors and grammar. Satisfied there was none, she saved the file and opened another one.

One labeled _Research: Einstein-Rosenberg Bridge_.

She read through it all again and it still made her head spin a little as some of the jargon went over her head, but it all still said the same thing no matter how many times she stared at it.

This was probably was not going to help her get home.

Or, at least it wasn’t the complete answer to her quest. While the idea of space-time is used loosely, she guaranteed that it couldn’t connect completely _different dimensions_. Maybe it wasn’t even called that- all she knew that where she came from was something beyond even the layer of _universe_. She had copied and pasted a theory she found and expanded upon on how there could be inaccessible universal _clusters_ that laid out of the reach of normal Einstein-Rosenberg bridges… if they were normal to begin with. Then there were mentions of _Ellis drainholes_ and _Morris–Thorne wormholes_ …

Then again, the phrase _space-time_ is used **_very_** loosely, and the sheer probability and math behind these theories… not to mention what kind of power it would take to create something like this. She sighed as she rubbed her eyes again; staring at her computer screen and doing thought experiments weren’t going to help her understanding of these concepts.

She jumped slightly when the barista picked up her old dishes and put a new coffee mug where the old one had sat a moment ago, “You look like you’re trying to figure out the mysteries of the world.”

Ellie sighed, “I probably am.”

The man looked at her screen for a moment, “Yeesh, just looking at this is making me go cross-eyed; universal clusters and layers of reality? What kind of Sci-fi stuff have you been getting into lately?”

She rubbed the back of her head, “Nothing much, just something I’m researching in hopes of maybe inserting into a new book I may write in the future.” She lied smoothly. Just because the Avengers knew about her predicament, that didn’t mean anyone else should, or would even believe her.

He whistled, “All of this for a book?”

She shrugged, “I honestly don’t want to be picked apart by people for being unrealistic.”

“But isn’t that the whole ‘fi’ part of ‘Sci-fi’? It’s science, but it’s still fiction and should be taken with a grain of salt.”

Ellie gave a look to the barista, “You getting sassy with me?”

“Says the person who alludes to doing amazing things and never does them.”

“Pot calling the kettle black.”

He stared.

“That’s racist.”

Ellie sputtered.

“ _You’re_ racist.”

He cracked a small grin, which he failed in hiding.

“You’re the one calling things _black_.”

“And _you’re_ the one attaching a negative connotation to it when you’re _white_.”

He laughed and held his hands up, “Alright, you win.”

Ellie scoffed, “Damn right I win.”

He just chuckled some more and walked away, “If you need anything just flag me down saying, ‘Hey coffee-guy, I need some more coffee.’”

Ellie giggled, “I’m pretty sure that’s not your real name.”

He turned back to her as he flipped the counter back down, “It’s Dekel.”

Ellie smiled, “Well, _Dekel_ , the name’s Ariel but only strangers call me that. You can call me Ellie.”

Dekel nodded, “Well, nice to finally put a name to the face.” Ellie’s phone went off, “Might want to get that.”

Ellie sighed, “It’s probably the old man wanting to know how I’m doing… and… all…”

She stared at the screen.

 _GET BACK TO HQ NOW. WE’VE GOT TROUBLE_.

Ellie quickly slammed her laptop shut and shoved it in her bag, grabbed her phone and swung her bag onto her shoulders in one fell swoop while the speed and urgency of it all alarmed Dekel.

“Whoa, what’s going on?”

Ellie gave him a tight smile as she brought up her untouched coffee, “Something really important- thanks for the coffee.”

He quickly took it and dumped it into a to-go cup, and handed it back to her, “It’s on the house. Go and do that important thing.”

She grinned as she saluted him, “See ya later.”

Then she was out the door, the young man looking out and watching her go before turning away to wipe down the counter with a small smile on his face.

-

Ellie quickly dashed down the sidewalk, her deft fingers already dialed Tony’s number and brought her hands-free device to life in her ear.

“ _Stark, here._ ” He answered.

“Tony, what’s going on?”

“ _What do you mean?_ ”

Ellie rushed around a corner.

“Didn’t you send me a text saying to get back to HQ?”

“ _No, I didn’t._ ” she slowed to a stop as she heard a soft beeps when the inventor typed a few things into his digital keyboard, “ _Yeah, no_ I _never sent you anything… but someone else disguising themselves as me did_.”

Ellie looked around quickly, scanning the area for any other people but found no other soul around. That seemed to unsettle her more than anything; she looked at her watch, the face displaying _12:30pm._

Where was everyone?

“Hey Tony, its lunchtime right now and I don’t see any students on campus.”

A sharp breath, a series of loud alarms and beeps, “ _Fins, get the hell out of there – I’m getting the same energy spike you gave off when you arrived pop up on campus less than half a block to the south of you_. _I don’t know who or what the hell it is,_ just get out of there.”

Ellie didn’t need to be told twice.

Quickly taking off again, she readjusted her payload for easier transport and ran towards the main road. As she passed by bewildered people on the sidewalk, she felt her heart seize in her chest a bit, “Tony, would it be okay if you sent a suit?”

“ _I’ll be out there myself as soon as possible_ ,” she heard some scuffling and the sound hydraulics as Tony stepped into the machine to put on his suit.

There was a blinding flash of light.

People screamed.

Ellie yelled as she covered her eyes, taking cover behind the stone retention wall of a house she almost passed by.

All she could see was darkness.

“Fins! _What the hell was that?!_ ”

She panted, “I have no clue, but I can’t even see anything right now – whatever it was completely blinded me.” She felt panic rise in her chest, “Tony, you need to get the hell out here _fast_.”

Her vision started to return, little blots of light and color filtering in for her mind to process, “ _I’ll be there as soon as I can. Just hang tight_.”

Ellie huffed again as her vision cleared enough for her to at least get up and walk, “Easy for you to say, you didn’t just have your vision taken from you in a split second.”

There was a man in her way.

He swung his arm out.

She ducked and rolled away, taking off at a break-neck pace as she sprinted away from her attacker.

“ ** _FUCKING HELL!_** ”

Tony let out a startled noise, “ _Fins, what’s going on?_ ”

“Someone just tried to take a swing at me,” Her vision became crystal clear as she looked back for a second, noticing the male was still chasing her, “He’s about six foot, black hair, white- fucking legs for _days_ , man.” She huffed as she turned back and dashed around a corner, dive-bombing through a crowd of people and knocking over a few of them, to which she yelled out a few hurried apologies over her shoulder.

When she had put some distance between herself and the corner she noticed the man was still following her.

 _And was gaining_.

“God bless it, I can’t shake him!”

“ _Keep running, I’m almost there._ ”

When she turned another corner she noticed he was even closer now.

“Tony the bastard’s gaining!”

“ _Just keep running!_ ”

“ _I’m trying dammit!_ ” she howled, “I’d like to see you to outrun someone who’s freaking taller, faster, and probably _stronger_ than you!”

“ _I have!_ ”

“You were in the suit, dammit!”

“ _That doesn’t matter!_ ”

“ _Oh my fucking God, Tony!_ ”

She felt her heart freeze in her chest when she felt the breeze of a failed grab.

She quickly turned hard left and ran straight into the road.

Cars honked their horns loudly at her as they _whooshed_ passed her, some of them yelling out profanities when the male chasing her decided to try to cross the busy road himself. The endeavor successfully slowed him down.

She huffed and puffed as her legs began to burn even though the adrenaline rushing through her veins kept most of the ache at bay; it was all starting to catch up to her now.

“ _Tony,_ where are you?! I almost got nabbed until I fucking dived _headfirst_ into traffic!”

He grunted, “ _Almost there!_ God, _you move so damn fast!_ ”

“Would you like me to politely wait for you somewhere – oh that’s right! _I can’t because a fucking lunatic is chasing me_!”

He grumbled, “ _You’re being_ super _thankful that I’m going through the trouble to save your ass_.”

“You’re bound by _law_ to come save my ass via the agreement you signed with Agent.”

He grumbled again.

She dashed through another group of people, and through a pedestrian crossing even though cars were rolling through which caused more drivers to get pissy with her.

When she looked back again the man was still chasing her.

“God bless it, I’m really starting to think this is going to be the end of me.”

Tony grunted, “ _I can see you now; hang on, this might get bumpy_.”

She blinked.

“What – _oh-my-God-Tony- **not-this-shit AGAIN!**_ ”

She screamed as she felt metallic arms hug her from her front and _lift_ her into the air opposite of the way she was running, to which she turned her head to see the mask of the Iron man and then looked forward quickly as she began soaring high above the street and buildings as the Ironed Avenger carried her off to safety.

Said Avenger was also laughing.

“ _Oh, you should have seen your face_.”

“Shut up- you did that shit on purpose.”

“ _What can I say? This is one of the perks of the job_.”

She huffed.

“ _On a serious note though_ ,” his tone hardened as he took off back to the tower, “ _I’m taking you back to HQ and I'm putting everything on security lockdown until I can get to the bottom of this_.”

Ellie nodded, “Yeah, because whoever the hell that was _also_ is probably in cahoots with that one chick I encountered at the store when I went shopping with Natasha a few months ago.”

“ _I agree. It’s a dead giveaway when they seem to know how to dodge the cameras as if they knew they were there._ ”

Ellie groaned, “Though now I’m going to behind on my classes… _again_.”

“ _Hey, I can’t help it when the bad guys want to mess with our lives. You’ll be able to make it up somehow, you’re too smart to let it go downhill_.”

Ellie raised her eyebrow at the mask, “Thanks for the vote of confidence.”

“ _Just calling it how I see it._ ”

-

Ellie tapped her foot impatiently as she stood off to the side, whatever Avengers that were available were standing around the table as they deliberated over the evidence.

Steve’s eyes narrowed and his brow furrowed as he tried to piece the puzzle together, “Whoever this is knows what they’re doing.”

Tony nodded, “And there’s more than one person doing this, so it’s either this duo by themselves,” He raised a blurry photo of the woman they had managed to capture and a photo of the man chasing Ellie earlier that day, “Or they’re part of an organization.”

Natasha hung up her phone then turned back towards the digital display and table, “I just talked to Coulson; he said that HYDRA hasn’t made any moves since the last time they beat them down.”

The three turned to Ellie.

Ellie waved her hand, “Believe me, if I knew who it could be that’s coming after me I’d let you know. Unfortunately, I’m in the dark as much as you guys are.”

Steve sighed, and looked back at the display in front of him, “Whoever this is they’re going after Ellie and the only ones who know anything special about Ellie are either a part of this team, a part of S.H.I.E.L.D under Coulson’s eyes, or locked up in a secure location a few hundred feet underneath dirt and rock.”

“Or they could be the ones who brought her here, spangles.”

Steve looked slightly irritated as he regarded the shorter man for a moment, “If they were why would they teleport her to _your_ house instead of an area they controlled?”

“Maybe they lost control of whatever device they used to get her here and she got dropped off at Tony’s house instead.” Natasha piped in.

“So they’re trying to get her back from a plan go awry, but why did it take them so long to find her? If they had sophisticated enough technology to pull her from her own universe into ours, they should have been able to find her a long time ago.” Steve just kept looking over the display, his brow stitched together.

Tony narrowed his eyes inquisitively at the screen and leaned on one foot, his mind shifting into gear as he thought over what little they had.

Ellie looked out to the window to see the late evening cast a blueish glow over the city as the light in the buildings began to light up the night brilliantly. Among those lights could be the individual who chased her earlier that day, or that woman from a few months ago. Whoever it was that was pursuing her, she knew that they couldn’t be friendly.

She just hoped things didn’t get any worse.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Short chapter is short, but the story is moving along smoothly now, and we're getting up to the good part but not there yet.


	10. And of Course, Things Did Get Worse

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ellie just had to open her big mouth, didn't she?

Ellie jumped halfway out of her skin as an alarm blared, which resulted in her pen making a giant slash through the essay that she was writing on the _only_ paper her English teacher would give her or allow her to use.

“There had better be a fire, dammit…” she grumbled angrily when she imagined her professor’s face staring down at her disapprovingly.

Her eyebrow twitching, she threw the pen down and shoved the paper away, then got up and walked to the elevator where she slipped her shoes on at the metallic doors. The slabs of metal opened after a few moments without her having to press a button, and she rode up to the top floor of HQ without the press of a button.

“Jarvis, mind telling me what’s going on?”

“ _There seems to have been simultaneous attacks on two schools in the last ten minutes – the Avengers have been called in to handle to the issue._ ”

Ellie narrowed her eyes, “Isn’t that the Law Enforcement’s job?”

“ _The authorities have been overwhelmed by the terrorists and have asked for assistance._ ”

Well.

She sighed slightly as she leaned back against the wall, “Am I going to be shooed out the moment I step out of these doors?”

“ _Actually, we’d like to have you up here if that’s alright with you_.”

Ellie rolled her eyes as Tony’s voice came through the speakers, “Way ahead of you, Tony. I’ll probably be there right about…”

The doors opened.

“Now.”

Tony looked up from the display, “Judging from that look on your face, you must have been in the middle of something.”

“Yes, I was.”

Tony looked closer at her, “What? Were you masturbating or something?”

Ellie threw her shoe at the man.

He ducked, but only barely managed to miss getting hit in the head. “Hey! That’s not cool!”

Ellie just flipped him off and turned back towards the display as Clint came in from the elevator and walked onto the opposite side of Ellie. He then turned his head to notice Ellie’s thrown shoe, and looked at her with a raised eyebrow, “Did Tony make another masturbating joke?”

She threw her other shoe at the inventor.

“Hey! I didn’t even say anything that time!”

“That was for my essay you ruined with your obnoxious alarm, asshole.”

The display lit up red as another school was attacked, this one being pretty close.

“ _There isn’t enough current ground forces to cover all the schools_.” Jarvis sounded slightly worried, “ _Calling in auxiliary forces, but it will take some time_.”

Tony pushed off from the table and strode towards the balcony where the suit started to fly up in pieces to him, “I’m heading out, so you guys tell us what’s going on.”

Ellie nodded and retrained her eyes on the holographic landscape drawn before her. Her ear twitched as Clint moved towards the elevator, then looked up to see him pick up her shoes and throw them to her as he went.

She caught them quickly, “Hey, where you going?”

He turned back to her as the doors opened, “I’m heading out too. I’ll be at the third school in a few minutes..”

She nodded as she slipped her shoes back over her feet, “Alright, just stay safe.”

He walked through, “I know.”

Ellie turned back and flicked her wrist, the display showing the three schools. Life and heat signatures were lit up all over the place; in one of the schools the staff and children were herded into the cafeteria, while the other two were in gyms. All exits – except windows – were covered by armed men, and they each looked like they’d put up one hell of a fight.

 “ _Ellie, do you know who could be doing this?_ ” Steve’s voice filtered through, “ _I know a lot is different here than what you came from, but do you think you could at least give an educated guess?_ ”

Ellie understood his vague question and tapped a button, then pulled up the schools with the hostages in the gyms as her mind sifted through her mental records, “Well, it could be a number of people. I can at least rule out a few because it’s definitely someone with cash and power, but attacking schools wasn’t really isolated to one or two guys, so I need more time to figure it out.”

Steve grunted, “ _Understood, just keep working on it._ ”

Ellie narrowed in on one school; there was a basement access into the gym.

“Steve, which school are you headed to?”

“ _Grace Fortsmouth Elementary, why?_ ”

“That gym has an access into a basement sub-level that has entry points all over the place and it doesn’t look like they covered it…” she flicked at another couple of floating screens and compared blueprints, “Okay, it isn’t covered because it was bricked up years ago. If you enter into the basement through the Kindergarten wing you should be able to blast your way in. They got all the civies to one side so there shouldn’t be a problem if you got some trainees to improvise with; I’m sending you the blueprints now.”

“ _Understood._ ”

 “Hey Tony, which school are you heading to right now?”

“ _Jacksworth Elementary, why?_ ”

“Turn tail and head towards Stuckgruber Middle, you’re closer to it and it’s not as heavily fortified; I’ll sned Clint to Jacksworth. You can bust in through the windows with a trainee or two if you go in from the southerly side of the cafeteria; they’ll be covered from any unfriendly fire if you have those tank-busting ammunition rounds on you to get through that concrete.”

 The inventor cackled, “ _Of course I do Fins. I’ll make sure I make a splash._ ”

“I hate you.”

“ _Your words of love are appreciated!_ ”

 “Clint, are you heading to Jacksworth Elementary?” Ellie growled lightly into the comms as Tony continued to cackle like a mad man.

“ _Yep, ETA two minutes._ ”

She pulled up the schematics and compared it to the real-time scans and thermals, gnawing at her lip as she looked them over and over again, “I’m not seeing any good entry points. I’m afraid it may get a little messy.”

“ _Send over the information and I’ll look it over._ ”

Tony was giggling.

“Fuck you, Tony.”

With a flick of her pinky the files were sent, “Have at it – just make sure to put the jet into autopilot so you don’t run into a building.”

“ _Ellie who do I look like, Tony?_ ”

Said billionaire interrupted his own dying laughter as he squawked, “ _Watch it birdbrain!_ ”

_Lights._

Ellie stepped back and watched as the Avengers made their ways to the schools.

_Camera._

She did all she could, directed them where she thought they could go – thank God for all of those infiltration games she played over the years – and it was now all left up to them.

**_Action._ **

Steve did exactly what she said and entered into the basement sub-floor, while a few trainees rushed into the hallway and distracted the armed men.

Her eyes flicked over to see Tony quickly dispatching of all the bad guys in one fell swoop, his targeting systems firing anti-tank rounds that shot through the glass and concrete walls of the cafeteria and into the bad guys.

Tony scoffed, “ _That was almost too easy._ ”

When she looked at Clint, she watched him fire off a series of arrows and do all sort of dickery to his opponents as he took them down.

Steve made it to the bricked up wall and placed an explosive there, then took cover behind a half-wall.

Tony walked into the school and had started to evacuate the hostages.

Clint had taken out three guys and the others were starting to notice.

The wall blew; Steve jumped through and bounced his shield into the skulls of a few men who had their backs to him and were the farthest away from him, while he engaged in hand-to-hand combat with the rest.

Tony had removed the last child when explosions started rocking the foundation of the school, which made it start to crumble into itself. There was still one teacher inside, and she was clinging to the pillar next to her for dear life.

“ _Jinx._ ” He dove back in.

Clint was engaged with the last target, who had a gun pointed at a kid’s head in his grasp. Clint took a shot with his arrow, and landed it right in the guy’s eye socket. The kid ran from the prone figure and to his teacher.

Tony emerged from the building with the woman in tow before it could come down around their ears, and the children flocked over to hug them both.

All-in-all a successful mission.

But Ellie didn’t release a sigh of relief.

The more she thought about it the more she saw holes in the behavior of the captors. Why didn’t they start opening fire on some of their hostages when they noticed the trainees in Steve’s school? Why did most of them stay in the front of the windows instead of taking cover for Tony’s school? Why did it take them so long to figure out that Clint was taking them all out?

She quickly made a call to the police department.

“ _911, what’s your emergency?_ ”

“Did you receive a call about multiple attacks on public schools?”

“ _Ma’am, I’m not able to tell you –_ ”

“Spare me the script and just tell me; I’m not with the press or a parent. I’m calling from Avengers Tower, so please answer my question.”

There was silence, then small sounds of a keyboard clacking, “ _No ma’am, there hasn’t been any alerts for any of the districts. Why? Was there an attack?_ ”

A cold chill ran down her back.

“Yes; send EMS to Jacksworth Elementary, Grace Fortsmouth Elementary, and Stuckgruber Middle.”

“ _EMS and SWAT is on their way_.”

“Thank you.” Ellie quickly hung up and went back into the comms. “Guys, rendezvous back here _now_.”

“ _Fins, what’s up?_ ”

“It’s diversion - All of it was a diversion to get you guys out of the building, the cops weren’t even _notified_ that there was an attack; whoever made the request for you guys to step in wasn't even with the police department!”

She heard cursing from all three of them, and the sound on Tony’s side crackling as his repulsors maxed out his microphone, “ _Fins, stay safe. I’ve given Jarvis a suit and it should be there_ – ”

The feed crackled, the holographic displayed shut down.

And everything went dead silent.

 _Oh, **shit**_.

 _Step_.

Ellie quickly dove over the table into a roll, narrowly avoiding hit to the back of her head. She turned to face her attacker head-on, the man covered head-to-toe in black as he tried to run around the table.

Ellie grunted as she dived over it again, taking off at a dead run for the balcony. She jumped over it and landed on her feet down below, then ran towards the small refreshment bar that Tony had set up. Before she could reach for a weapon, another lackey jumped forward…

And successfully got the heel of Ellie’s shoe in his face, knocking the man back and out.

She reached over the side and grasped a bottle.

Then smashed it against the head of another who tried to attack her from behind.

She dropped the broken bottle and turned back to the counter to grab another weapon, but someone grabbed her from behind.

Roaring, she flipped them over her shoulder, over the counter, and into the wall of alcohol where shelves broke and bottles smashed themselves against the attacker's head.

Huffing and giving up on her original plan, she leaped over the prone body of the second attacker and made her way to the elevator.

She rapidly pressed the _down_ button as she stood there, shaking.

Ellie felt the hair rise on the back of her neck, and turned to see three more attackers waiting in the wings behind her.

They seemed wary, given how she dispatched their cohorts, but Ellie just stood her ground.

They all three ran forward.

Ellie danced out of the way of one and implanted her elbow in the face of another, then used him as a human shield when the third man tried to attack her. The result was a knocked out crony and the other’s hand breaking.

Growling angrily, the one with a broken hand ran forward and tried to kick her, but Ellie stepped back.

And kicked his knee out, breaking it.

Howling, he stepped back and Ellie stepped forward, and her fist landed squarely in his gut.

She quickly shot to the left and let the other assailant charge past from behind her, knocking both men together in a heap.

One stayed down dazed, confused and half broken, while the other got up and charged her again.

She wasn’t fast enough to avoid him, and he landed a blow to her stomach.

Undeterred and slightly winded, she quickly jumped back and weaved out and around his punches.

She darted to the side, and flipped a table onto him which knocked him off balance.

Grunting angrily, he pushed the table away and _jumped_ for her, landing and pinning her to the ground by her neck and situating himself between her legs.

Ellie pulled her legs to her chest and _pushed_ her legs up and out as he began to squeeze, flipping the man off her and back into the edge of the overturned table.

 _Crack_.

Grossed out and wincing slightly in empathy, she quickly got to her feet and turned to see the man holding his ribs.

Heaving in angry breaths of air, the man then pulled out a combat knife and brandished it.

She gulped slightly.

He rushed forward and started slashing at the air.

She dodged twice, but the third time his blade met skin and cut her arm.

Flinching at the stinging pain, she quickly jumped backwards and then cut hard to the side to jump over a table, taking a deep slash to her other arm, then grabbed the chair on the other side and threw it at him.

He dodged it, and tossed the table to the side as he pursued her once again.

Squealing slightly, she dashed around to the upper lounge area and grabbed a decorative plate on it.

She turned and threw it, the plate landing squarely in the man’s face.

While it shattered, he remained standing. And was even angrier now.

 ** _Shit_**.

She jumped to the side as he slashed at her again, his blade landing a blow on her lower back in a good sized slash as he followed her movements.

Grunting in pain, she vaulted over the dividing glass wall, rolled, and dashed back through the overturned sitting area. She huffed as she reached for another chair and threw it again, only for it to be knocked to the side like a child’s plaything again.

She ran backwards –

And fell back as she tripped over a fallen chair.

Panicked, she crawled backwards as fast as she could, then started to get to her feet.

A _whoosh_ of air was heard, and was followed by a searing pain on the back of her shoulder blades as she managed to pull her feet under her.

Ellie quickly cut hard to the right and pulled more chairs in between her and her attacker, hoping to slow him down as she searched in her panicked state for a weapon.

It was all for naught because no matter what she did he would bulldoze through whatever she threw at him, and pursued her like a rabid dog.

He was _relentless_.

She half screamed when she tripped again, this time her fall saved her from yet another cut.

She quickly rolled to her left and avoided the man’s blade again, tears starting to blur her vision slightly as she scrambled to her feet again and felt the dread creep in – she felt death closing in.

She was going to die.

 _She was going to die_.

_Oh god._

_**She was going to die**_.

She fell forward again, and grasped the metal pole on the bottom of the bar to try to break her own fall, only for it to break off with her.

She rolled onto her back and raised it up to block the man’s attack, and then another.

And another.

She barely escaped it.

And another.

The tip still nicked her forearm.

And another.

It dug deeper over her first cut.

And another.

The blade this time was able to make a deeper notch against her other arm.

And another.

She accidentally rolled with it, the blade gaining a good purchase and adding more wounds on top of the ones she already had.

And another.

Another slipped through, and not only did the blade find purchase it sliced horizontally through an earlier wound.

She blocked the next, and the three after that.

And she gained three more slices to her already battered arms.

She slammed her eyes shut and blindly kicked out.

There was a burning pain in her leg, but the man groaned loudly and there was a sudden _thump_.

Her eyes flashed open and saw him sprawled out on the floor, holding his ribs again.

The elevator _dinged_.

She quickly rolled to her feet, hobbling along as she darted straight for the metal box. She radiated pain all over; there were cuts all over her arms, two of them on her back, and the one on her leg hurt so badly she cried every time she took a step.

In the fringes of her vision she could see her blood everywhere; she felt so tired.

 ** _She was going to die_**.

She screamed fully this time as something was lodged in the back of her calf. She went down, just a few feet from the metal doors as they held themselves open invitingly. The pain and wooziness she felt from blood loss too much for her to take.

The doors then began to shut.

Ellie heaved in panicked whines and pants and cried as she desperately crawled to the smoothly closing doors.

Then she cried out as she felt the man press his foot into her back and _rip_ the weapon out of her leg.

He kicked her onto her back, and she slowly turned her head up to stare up at her attacker through the tears rolling down her cheeks.

He seemed to just exude smugness as he tossed his blade from hand-to-hand casually, his head cocked to the side.

Her chest twitched heavily as she felt her sob catch itself there.

**_ I’m going to DIE. _ **

The man looked down at her for a moment.

He raised his knife - !

**_BAAANG! _ **

He stopped.

Then fell backwards, the knife falling out of his hand.

Ellie felt relief wash through her as she lolled her head to the side, her eyes fluttering close as exhaustion began to take over. Forcing her eyelids open, her blurry vision took in the visage of a paler man, like as if he once had a tan but it faded away some time ago from the lack of contact with the sunlight. He had dark, mid-length, wild hair.

As he came closer, she noticed he had broad shoulders and a chiseled jaw, but couldn’t see his face.

Her eyes fell close as the blood loss started to take effect, then felt warm fingers on her neck as he checked her pulse. The fingers left, and then the hands grasped her arms as something was wound tightly around her flesh, binding her almost profusely bleeding wounds.

She heard him curse – his voice was deep and buttery. She felt a shiver go down her back, and groaned at the pain it caused as it agitated the cut on her lower back. He pulled her up to his chest and began to remove her shirt, mumbling something she couldn’t hear but he was obviously trying to be soothing as he relieved her of her shirt, which caused a more primal part of herself to panic; the panic only seemed to only solidify into wretched helplessness when she realized that she was too weak to even attempt to try to fight back.

He dabbed at her wounds on her back, then did the same to her pants and leg. She felt her throat finally calm itself and her tears finally slow, her heart no longer pounding heavily with adrenaline from running for her life.

When he was finally done, he scooped her up into his arms and carried her off for a short moment, or it could have been an eternity from how much she was going in and out of reality. When he finally stopped, he laid her down somewhere cushioned and smooth.

When she could finally blink her eyes open without feeling like she was parting the red sea, she felt her sense come back in small increments…

Like how she finally noticed she was missing a shirt and was just in a bra.

She shot up like a rocket, but immediately regretted it when her wounds on her back angrily pulsed. Her eyes twitched, and she gazed around to look for her savior, only to be met with an empty room and no trace of her altercation to be found.

Taking in a sharp breath, she slowly got up from the leather couch and hobbled – at least her pants had been put back on – around, still not seeing the dark haired stranger that had saved her. She looked up to the ceiling.

“Jarvis?” she called out meekly.

“ _Yes, ma’am_?”

She breathed out a sigh of relief.

“What happened while I was out?”

The AI was quiet for a moment.

“ _After you were saved by the last intruder,_ Sir _and the rest of the team came into the tower and apprehended the man. Clean-up protocols were seen to and the bodies were carried away, and your wounds were redressed, though your shirt was ruined. I have contact_ Sir _and he knows you are conscious_.”

Ellie nodded as she then began to hobble to the elevator, the doors this time coming open and staying open.

“Why couldn’t you help me?” she asked quietly.

“ _Someone had overridden my protocols and broadcasted the whole ordeal to the team._ ”

She felt a tremor run through her. This was premeditated to the extreme extent.

“They wanted everyone to watch me die.”

“ _That’s what the general consensus seems to be_.” The posh voice answered. “ _I had tried many times to push out the invading force, but I was unfortunately rendered useless. I apologize, Ms. Ellie_.”

Ellie just waved her hand at the air as she stepped into the box, the doors shutting silently behind her and the metal room gently moving into motion as she leaned against the wall. As the box rode down, a question formed into her mind.

“Jarvis, where are you taking me?”

“ _Due to the nature of the infiltration, the main head of operations has been moved to a more secure location. I’m taking you to your own floor to redress yourself, and afterwards I will take you there, because_ Sir _requests your assistance, and Dr. Banner wishes to check your bindings in the newly setup medical wing on the same floor later on._ ”

She nodded, noting it was only logical to move when the most secure room in the building gets broken into. Where there was one hole, there was another somewhere else.

She raised her head from the wall as the doors opened to her little apartment, and walked through the doors as she slowly moved to her room and closet for a new outfit that wasn’t covered in blood and cut to pieces. After a few minutes she emerged freshly dressed and a little more aware, and moved a little faster as she went back to the open elevator and rode it back up to the new HQ.

“ _They are waiting for you in the Battle room._ ” Rolling her shoulders experimentally, she walked through the open doors.

A small sound escaped the speaker, like as if someone wanted to say something else but deciding to not to after all… Ellie looked up at a camera with a concerned look on her face.

“Jarvis, you okay? Were you infected with a virus when they broke in?”

“ _No ma’am, just a small glitch in my program from the forced entry. I’m being patched as we speak for any bugs that may arise_.” He answered promptly. She furrowed her brow, and she looked away to focus on the group gathered in the glass room over to her right.

She tried her best to hide her limp, and walked through the closed door as everyone laid their eyes on her.

She cleared her throat uncomfortably, “Hi.”

Silence.

She nodded to herself, “Tough crowd. Just witnessed a death in the family?”

She _heard_ Steve’s face hit the palm of his hand with force.

Clint just laughed, and Natasha just smirked.

“Well, I think she’s good.” The spy commented as she crossed her legs, “Nice moves, by the way. Good to know that those lessons stuck.”

Ellie flopped down onto the nearest seat, “I’m happy I’m still alive right now.” Tony just seemed stone-faced as his eyes lingered on the visible bandages on her neck and arms. She turned to him, and narrowed her eyes in a silent warning. “Don’t you _dare_ , Tony…”

“What?” He blinked innocently, “Why do you guys always think I’m doing something wrong?”

“I saw that look you were giving me… stop. It’s not your fault – these guys _planned_ this out; there was no way you were going to be able to stop them from trying to get what they wanted.”

He still looked uncomfortable, “Doesn’t change how I feel.”

“I’ll smack you until you feel differently and that thought is out of your head.”

“ _Everyone_ ,” Steve finally raised his face from the depths of his hand, “Now that Ellie is fully aware we can continue. What do we know?”

Clint spoke up, clearing his throat of any laughter. “Ellie was right about these guys planning this out – I have never seen anybody be able to out-hack Tony’s AI before, so whoever it is either has resources to spare, is incredibly smart, or is a mixture of the two. And has at least a small army of trained men fighting for him – who are either paid enough to die for him, or he has something they are willing to die for, or are devoted enough to him to die for his cause.”

“Then what about this guy?”

Steve brought up a display of their prisoner, turning back to the display as his hands folded themselves behind his back.

Ellie froze.

Her eyes went wide.

 _‘What the **fuck?!**_ ’

She felt cold.

…

_It’s **him**._

He was there.

Mark.

Edward.

Fischbach.

Was _there._

Even though he looked much younger without the five o’clock shadow, he was still recognizable even through the holographic display. He was sitting in a pure white room with his signature shaggy black hair, masculine jawline, and stocky build that triathlon athletes would kill to have without trying like he did.

The entire room noticed her face going white. Steve spoke up first.

“Ellie, do you know who this is?”

“Didn’t he tell you?” she croaked.

“No, he hasn’t said anything. All he’s done is just stare blankly ahead, why?”

She took in a shaky breath.

“He… he’s – well, he _looks_ like – Mark.”

Steve fully turned towards her, “Care to clarify who ‘Mark’ is?”

Ellie shook her head as she rubbed her hands over her face, “He’s a Youtuber from where I’m from – hugely famous. Last I checked he had…” she knitted her eyebrows together as she tried to remember how many subscribers he had, “… a butt ton of subscribers. I can’t remember how many, but he was the second top gaming channel the last time I checked.”

Tony whistled as her hand slid down back into her lap, “So, if he’s such a celebrity why haven’t _I_ at least heard of him?”

“Because he doesn’t exist here.”

The whole room felt colder.

“Oh.” Was all the billionaire could say, “That’s why you looked like Kasper the Friendly Ghost…”

“If he doesn’t exist here, why is he sitting right there then?” Bruce asked.

“Maybe he just _looks_ like him,” Clint interjected, “You said that almost everyone here has an actor counterpart back in your universe, right?”

Ellie nodded slowly, starting to see what he was trying to say, “So, you think that maybe in my absence he starred in a Marvel film? But that wouldn’t make any sense, because last time I checked he wasn’t interested in acting in projects he didn’t have a hand in the actual concept of… and last time I check not _everything_ in this universe matches up –”

“Do you have a better explanation?” Clint challenged.

Ellie huffed, “Maybe because the laws of probability have taken effect and made this man look like him?”

“If that were true there would have been another you running around that we would have been able to find, but we never did.” Clint got up from his seat and walked up to the display.

Ellie said nothing.

“Either way, no matter who he is he won’t divulge any information to us. Clint, Natasha, and I have all tried questioning him but he hasn’t said a word.” Steve looked at Ellie for a moment, “When he helped you did he say anything?”

Ellie retreated back into her mind as she tried to recall something…

_She heard him curse – his voice was deep and buttery. She felt a shiver go down her back, and groaned at the pain it caused as it agitated the cut on her lower back. He pulled her up to his chest and began to remove her shirt, mumbling something she couldn’t hear but was obviously trying to be soothing as relieved her of her shirt and dabbed at her wounds on her back…_

She shook her head.

“I was too out of it to understand what he was saying – all I know is that he has a voice meant for radio.”

Tony looked at her, “Deep voice?”

“ _Buttery_ deep, like ovary-tickling deep.”

Steve wrinkled his nose, “I hate it when you say stuff like that…”

Tony whistled, “He must have tickled yours then.” Ellie threw her shoe at him, and missed him once again. The shoe bounced off the glass wall and landed to her right somewhere, “Hey, hey! Be nice, you just got yourself cut up and you’re still healing…”

“I can still kick your ass, old man.”

“Both of you,” Steve called firmly, then he sighed as he looked back at the Korean-American, a thoughtful look gracing his features. He looked back at Ellie, “Since you’re the only one he talked to, would you want to try to get something out of him?”

Ellie blinked, “Me? I don’t know… I’m not trained in interrogations, and I’m pretty sure that if he didn’t open up to Natasha he isn’t going to open up to me.”

Steve stood firm, “At this point, I’m willing to try anything to get some answers. We’ve been attacked too many times lately, and all of it has been centered on _you_ ; we need something, or there might not be a next time.”

Ellie rolled her shoulders again and sighed as she pushed off from her chair, “Alright _fine,_ where’s the holding area?”

“On the next floor down, Jarvis will lead you there.”

-

Ellie hovered outside the door to the interrogation room the man was in, feeling trapped and enclosed in the little observation room yet completely exposed as she stared at the man beyond the two-way mirror, and he seemingly stared straight at her, though she knew he couldn’t see her or was even aware of her being there.

God, the similarities between this man and Markiplier were just _extraordinary_.

Like her earlier observation, she noted that unlike the Mark she left behind this man had no facial hair, which made him look like an eighteen year old straight out of high school. His hair was still as long and floofy, though.

She took a breath and moved her eyes away; she needed to get through to him. Her safety was on the line.

She let out her breath, a plan of attack already formed in her mind.

“Alright, here goes nothing…”

She grasped the doorknob, and opened the door.

The Mark-Clone just sat there, staring straight ahead, not even turning his head to see who walked through the door nor did it look like he even cared if the door had even moved. Closing it silently behind her, she pitter-patted to the seat across from him and sat down.

When she became settled she turned her gaze to him and _stared_ , memorizing every detail she could.

His skin was a couple shades lighter than the tan she remembered, and though he was still visibly muscled through his shirt it was not what she remembered either. His features seemed softer than she once thought, though the hard edges of the German in him refused to be forgotten and still showed themselves brilliantly.

When she reached his eyes, she felt her heart skip a beat.

 _His eyes were ice blue_.

In her peripheral vison, she swore she could see his eyebrow twitch _ever_ so slightly. Maybe her tactic would work.

“Why.”

Her voice was firm, unyielding. She never blinked as she continued to stare at him.

Silence.

His throat moved a little, but her eyes never moved. She counted to thirty about thirty times before she shifted in her seat.

The man twitched in front of her in response to her movement.

She smirked internally. _It was working_.

Ellie counted another set of thirty seconds thirty times.

_Slam!_

The sound of her closed fist hitting the table bounced off the walls, and this time the man in front of her truly tried to jump out of his skin.

“ _Why?_ ” she asked again.

Silence, though he stared at her like she was a wild animal about to attack.

She blinked.

“You do realize that thanks to our organization being recognized as a private security firm we can hold you until the authorities come pick you up, who can hold people for up to seventy-two hours without a shred of proof. Which, of course, doesn’t include you because we have evidence of you trespassing and any shred of innocence you may have had died with the rest of those cronies.”

Her voice was much more steeled than she felt, and she was grateful for it. She stared straight through him, and his eyes danced between hers as he processed what she said.

“And, because of that they will charge you with not only breaking-and-entering, but they will charge you with two counts of unlawful access to stored communications, four counts of conspiracy to commit assault for each of the men who attacked me, and conspiracy to commit murder.” She could see his jaw flex slightly.

Silence.

“Well? _Answer me_.”

More silence.

She stared.

Then she scoffed.

“Fine, if all you’re going to do is waste my time and not answer just _one damn_ question,” She pushed back against the table and rose from her chair, her face a hard mask of frustration as she went for the door, “Then I’m not going to waste my time. I can find whoever attacked me with or _without_ you while you rot away in prison for three lifetimes over.”

She went for the door and grasped the handle, then turned the metal. The door swung wide open –

“Stop!”

She paused.

And smirked to herself.

_Gotcha._

She turned slowly back to the man to see him more animated than he had been in the past thirty minutes or so.

“You ready to talk now that you know what’s waiting for you if you don’t cooperate?”

He swallowed as he allowed his eyes to take her in fully for the first time, before turning away to glance at the table. “Yes.”

She shut the door at his meek response, and sat back down again. Her face had smoothed out to impassiveness.

“Can I ask you one question?”

She looked him as his voice fluttered out, though his eyes still didn’t move from the table.

“Yes.”

He looked back up at her with confusion on his face, “Why did you look at me like that?”

She blinked, “Like what?”

“Like you _knew_ me.”

She scrutinized him, “Why?”

“Because you shouldn’t.”

“What makes you think I shouldn’t?”

“Because I don’t even know who _you_ are – nobody does.”

“Perhaps I prefer to be anonymous. Now answer my question; _why_?”

It was his turn to scrutinize her, “Why what?”

“Why the silence? Why did you hack into Avengers HQ? Why were you there when I was attacked? Why did you save me?”

He looked back down for a moment as he gathered his words, and Ellie in response turned to look at the cameras in the corner behind him, nodding slightly at the others who were behind them. She owed Steve one for this.

“I didn’t talk because I didn’t know if I could trust you.” He said finally, “And I wasn’t the one who hacked in first but I piggy-backed the one who did to get access; I was there when you were attacked because I was tracking someone down and thought he would be there… and I saved you because you were helpless, and I had thought I had the person I was looking for was right where I wanted him…”

He looked back up, his face hard and there was a twinge of fear in his eyes. “But I was wrong. He’s still out there.”

Ellie searched him for a moment.

“Tell me your name.”

He took in a deep breath.

“Amadeus Cho.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It should be known that I write out these little messages weeks before they are actually seen so... yeah, thought I should put that out there. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed the chapter and the new character... please go easy on me Marvel fans. I tried my best to do research on Amadeus but I couldn't really find anything that really helped me with his personality other than that he was like a young Loki...
> 
> [Sarcasm] Which is OH so helpful. [End Sarcasm]
> 
> Also, all of the schools mentioned here are fake. I just made up their names... and it shows. Eugh, I tried. Anyway, see you next time :)
> 
> AND MURRRRAHY CHRIISSSSTMAAAS!


	11. Right, Because One Problem Wasn't Enough

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The trouble just seems to keep on coming...

Ellie felt her heart stop.

_Amadeus Cho._

This was fucking Amadeus Cho. This Markiplier look-alike was **_Amadeus Cho_**.

She felt like she was going to rip her hair out.

She rose from her seat and made her way to his side, all the while feeling her heart run a thousand miles a minute – the _boy_ who sat in front of her was _the sixth smartest human being on the planet._

She laid her thumb down on the edge of the table and the tech scanned her print, then the cuffs on Amadeus’ wrists _beeped_ and popped off. Moving away while he rubbed his wrists, Ellie made her way to the door and grasped the handle. As she pulled it open, she turned back to him as he sat there.

“I believe you.”

He perked up in surprise, not expecting such a quick acceptance by mere mentioning of his name.

“If you want to stop running and live for once, you better work with us. Pythagoras Dupree won’t win as long as I’m alive.”

Amadeus stood faster than she could blink when she mentioned his name, “How do you know him?”

She smirked as she hid a shiver – _his voice was even similar_ , “Wouldn’t _you_ like to know?”

Then she walked out with him at her heels.

“ _Ms. Ellie, do you think it’s wise to allow this man to roam free?_ ”

“The boy is on our side, and I think I finally know who’s been trying to kill me.” She could feel the hot glare on her shoulder as the doors to the elevator opened via Jarvis and allowed them to walk through.

“I’m not a _boy_ …” Amadeus grumbled.

“You are an eighteen year old prodigy whose family was blown up in a madman’s attempt to rise to the top of the intellectual food chain when he was just fifteen years old and has been considered dead alongside his family but in fact you have been on the run ever since then because Pythagoras knows you’re alive and wants you dead, and you had a coyote pup who has probably gone missing. Also, I’m twenty years old so to me you’re a boy.”

He was silent for a second, “You know, as creepy as your knowledge about me is you do know you’re only _two_ years older than me, right?”

“Yet mentally I’m _twenty_ years older than you. I may not be a genius, and I may tell too many vagina jokes time to time, but all-in-all I am lightyears ahead of you when it comes to maturity.”

“So says you.”

“And I’m always right.”

The elevator _dinged._

Ellie strode purposefully through the doors as Amadeus tailed behind her, and felt a slight itch under her skin as she walked back into the Battle room with everyone’s eyes glued to her in various degrees of shock.

She just happily sat in her chair while Amadeus awkwardly stood in the corner. “I owe you one, Steve.”

“I think you’ll owe me _two_ for letting him go without authorization.”

Ellie rolled her eyes, “The reason why you all let me have run of the system and overrides is because you trust my knowledge. _So_ … trust me. He’s a good guy.”

Bruce looked at the young man closer, a small flicker of recognition in his eyes.

Ellie nodded to Bruce, “If you think you’ve seen him before you _have_ ; The Other Guy saved this young man’s life when you both were attacked by Pythagoras Dupree some time in your collective pasts. You know, the guy who’s looking to climb the intellectual food chain and rule the planet?”

Bruce’s eyes flashed as it came back to him, and Amadeus’ eyes nearly bugged out of his head as he took in the doctor. He probably didn’t believe he’d ever meet the human-side of the big green rage monster he idolized since the day he was saved by it.

Steve looked between the three of them, “Is this true?”

Bruce nodded, “Yeah; I can only remember bits and pieces, but now that I think about it I remember something about a Dr. Pythagoras attacking me and someone else…”

Steve nodded, then looked back to the display as Jarvis pulled up everything he could about Dr. Pythagoras Dupree. “Well, judging from Jarvis could find on public record he definitely would have the resources to pull off the last few stunts. But what I don’t get it why he’s targeting Ellie; she doesn’t have a hyper computer-like brain like he does, so she would pose no threat to him intellectually.”

Ellie tapped her chin, “Unless he somehow found out about my… trump card.”

She appraised everyone in the room with a **look** : _don’t say where I’m from._

They understood.

Keeping her origins a secret was their best weapon, and while she could trust the Avengers to keep quiet about her she wasn’t too sure about Amadeus. You could have all the moral in the world, but not everyone can hold it together when tortured.

“That would explain why most of the attacks have been against you or to lead us away; he knows you got your trump card but you’ve got no gimmick to back you up. So sick a couple of trained killers on you while we’re away, block Jarvis, and he’s got you.” Tony muttered as he walked up to the display, his hands doing as much talking as he was.

“I guess he didn’t expect Amadeus to show up and foil his plans.” Ellie mused.

“I guess he isn’t as smart as he thinks he is…” Amadeus said airily from behind her.

“Either way, we need to find out where he is and take him out before he gets anyone else hurt. Do you know where he could be other than his homes on his public record?” Steve asked as he looked carefully at each of the man’s houses. Two of them in the United States, a palazzo in Venice, a cottage in Russia, and a mansion in Malta.

Ellie shook her head sadly, “No; every mention of him having a secret base is always vague.”

Steve nodded, “Jarvis will do some deep digging into Pythagoras’ expenses, and follow where the money takes us.”

“We should probably focus on big enough properties close to the houses that can hold at least a platoon of men, plenty of entry points, large housing facility for a range of vehicles, and a facility that big would definitely have some major energy bills. It’d be something that a government would want to collect taxes on.” Natasha listed off her criteria on her hand, and the display flickered for a moment as the information was processed and applied.

A small list of two properties popped up; one in Iceland under the name of an unknown millionaire, and the other in Malta. A few short miles away from Pythagoras’ Malta home, which according to satellite images had seen _tons_ of activity lately with poorly painted trucks marked as renovation trucks which belong to a company that, upon analysis, turned out to be a nicely decked out website with contact numbers that didn’t work and the address of their home office an abandoned house somewhere two hours south of the job site.

Ellie cleared her throat pointedly, “I elect we start _there_ …”

Steve tapped a few buttons on the surface of the table and then pulled out a StarkPad. He looked to the two spies, “You two and I are going, I need Clint to check out the security, and if it’s tight I’m going to need your skills Natasha.” The spies nodded as they rose from their seats and followed him out the door.

Tony cocked his head to the side as he and the rest of the room follow close behind. “Okay, so what will the rest of us do here while you’re playing James Bond?”

“Refortify and keep an eye out. He might be expecting us and try to attack while half of us are gone.” Steve called out behind him, the elevator opening to allow the three former S.H.I.E.L.D agents board. He turned and looked Ellie straight in the eye, “Remember, _no heroics_.”

Said female rolled her eyes, “Oui, oui _mon Capitaine_.” _Aye, aye my Captain._

The doors closed.

Tony just turned to Ellie with a raised eyebrow. “I didn’t know you knew French.”

“I don’t, I just remember Q from Star Trek always calling Picard that. It kind of just stuck with me.”

Amadeus looked suspiciously at Ellie as they turned to go back to the Battle Room, “I’m pretty sure Q never said the _Oui, Oui_ part.”

Ellie waved them off, “Whatever floats your boat.”

They all filed into the room and each found their seats, the display lighting up before them as Jarvis started to track the progress of the small three-man group. Flicking her eyes to the wall-to-ceiling window – which she thought was _super_ secretive and secure – she noted it was far into the evening, and her stomach felt pretty empty. When her eyes went back to the display, she looked at the ETA counter to see that it would take them many hours to reach their destination.

Dinner was definitely in order.

“Hey Tony.”

Said called upon billionaire didn’t look away from the holographic images, “What’s up?”

“When’s the last time anyone ate anything?”

He genuinely paused.

“As a matter of fact,” Ellie added, “Has anyone fed _Amadeus_?”

Bruce had the grace to look sheepish when in response to Ellie’s query Amadeus’ stomach growled on que.

And said the young man blushed at the volume of the growl.

A look of his own brand of sheepishness went across Tony’s face.

Ellie stared at him.

In response he raised his arms, “Who’s in the mood for pizza?” he looked at everyone as he spun in a slow circle in his rolling chair, “I’m into pizza right now – h-how about you champ?”

Amadeus shrugged and crossed his legs uncomfortably as his stomach growled again, “I’m, uh, I’m game for anything.”

“Ellie?”

Ellie stared, her eyes narrowed accusingly at Tony for his outright neglect. “Sure.”

“Brucey?”

Bruce shrugged, “I’ll get a salad, thanks.”

Tony let his shoulders drop dramatically, “Spoil sport – Jarvis, could you order, from our usual place, three large pepperoni pizzas and a salad for the good doctor here who’s watching his figure?” Bruce glared lightly at Tony for the jab.

“ _Already done,_ Sir.”

“Good boy; how’s the patch doing Jarvis?”

“ _Fully integrated and operational_.”

“Perfect.”

Ellie cooled her glare somewhat and got more comfortable in her seat, “Something tells me we’re going to be here for a while.”

Tony shrugged, “You and the kid,” Amadeus shot the billionaire a hot glare, which he just ignored, “… over there don’t have to be here if you want to – it’s not like you’re Avengers. If anything, Ellie you’re just a Consultant.”

“You mean how you were just a _Consultant_ a few years ago?”

“Hey, that was different.”

“How so?”

Tony lolled his head over to face her, “Because I’m me, that’s why.”

Ellie threw her shoe at him again. This time, it hit him in the shoulder and came within a few inches of his face.

He jumped back, “Hey!”

“You deserved it.”

“How?!”

“Because you’re you, that’s why.”

Bruce snickered as the two brunettes glared daggers at each other, while Amadeus just picked up his seat and situated himself beside Bruce who he put between him and the other two. The two looked at each other, seemingly coming to a silent understanding, and focused back onto the mission progress in front of them. 

Ellie retrieved her shoe a few minutes later and settled in for a long wait.

-

Some pizza – or _a lot_ of pizza in Ellie and Amadeus’ situation, considering that they both ate ninety-percent of the available pizza which consisted of four slices a piece… which Tony was amazed at considering these were _huge ass_ pieces – and some more bickering, jokes at each other’s expense, redressing Ellie’s wounds, some naps, and staring later the away team was at their destination. Ellie’s eyes flickered to the window to see the small beginnings of the coming morning, wondering what must awaited them on the other side of the planet now that night had fallen for them.

Ellie sat up straighter in her seat as the comms crackled to life, “ _We’re approaching the residence._ ”

Tony flicked his wrists a few times and tapped a few floating buttons, “Jarvis didn’t register any life signs or advanced security systems outside of the norm.”

Amadeus narrowed his eyes, “We’re dealing with someone who claims he is the sixth smartest man in the world – don’t let your guard down. He’s been able to find me on less than a megabyte of information.”

Tony raised an eyebrow as he turned to Amadeus, “Really?”

Amadeus nodded.

“Well…” Tony slowly turned back to the display, “That’s a little disconcerting.”

 “ _We’ll be careful_. _Going into radio silence._ ”

Ellie’s eyes jumped around the screen as the signals on the away-teams all vanished one by one, each one turning off their signals to prevent accidental detection. They couldn’t take a risk with this guy.

Everyone in the room waited with baited breath, and Ellie felt her muscles tense in her body as she imagined what was going on the other side of ocean. An errant thought of how she should have been there to give them information was quickly batted away, because if she was there she’d only drag them down. She was a civilian, and was being targeted by the guy whose house they were trying to infiltrate. It was usually bad form to barge right into his hands when he probably wants to do unspeakable things to you, including kill you.

Especially the killing part. She didn’t have a death wish.

She jumped as the screen lit up red.

“ _Shit!_ ”

Clint.

She watched as one part of the house all of a sudden went active, multiple and large energy signatures spiking as the unseen security measures were activated.

Then she heard the sounds of grunts and punches.

And then silence, but the alarm on the other side of the comm still blared obnoxiously.

“ _This guy somehow blocked the life signs of the hundred or so guys he’s got patrolling over here, so when I turned a wrong corner one saw me and set off the alarm. No worries, bad guy’s down_. _Downed with a bow and arrow, no less._ ”

Ellie bit her nail.

“Clint, get the siren turned off before the other two get discovered.” Tony barked.

Real silence flooded the room, and the display went back to blue.

Amadeus looked nervous as hell, and Ellie didn’t feel any better. “Maybe we need to abort – Dupree will have seen the alarm go off, and when that patrol doesn’t call in…”

“ _Way ahead of you, guys. I already took care of the whole check-in problem… I think I’ll keep this keycard and toss this convenient book of passwords this forgetful idiot had on him. Did I mention it was convenient?_ ”

That made Ellie even more nervous.

 “ _I’ve got something here_.” Natasha mumbled. “ _Not sure what it is, but it’s definitely interesting how there’s one bookcase seemingly molded to the wall while the rest can be moved… and is definitely larger to the point where it looks mildly out of place._ ”

Ellie narrowed her eyes.

“ _Be careful, this guy could have this whole place booby-trapped. If he can hide his guards from our scanners then he can pack in a few more surprises._ ” Steve whispered, and from the sound of the audio he sounded like he was in an enclosed space.

“Where are you, exactly?” Tony queried.

“ _I’m in one of the larger studies closer to the master bedroom; this one seemed to have a lot of books centered around biographies and auto-biographies on some of the smartest people on the planet... I’m hiding out in the closet right now because a guard came in – I’m going to check Dupree’s desk in here… It looked like it was cemented to the wall.”_

Highly suspicious, in Ellie’s opinion.

“ _I’ve started to pull out books Scooby Doo style to see what happens in this bookcase, wish me luck_.” Natasha said with a slight lift in her tone.

“Let’s hope nothing pops out and decides to say hi.” Ellie mumbled, shifting nervously in her seat.

Amadeus narrowed his eyes at the digital display, his eyes dancing to and fro across everything as the whirs began to spin in his mind. He looked at Ellie with a questioning look, his eyebrow raised pointedly as if conveying a silent message.

_Everything seemed way too convenient._

“Tony, we need to abort.” Ellie nodded to herself before continuing, “Something doesn’t feel right, and there’s been a lot of convenient little things that seem way too obvious for someone like Dupree to do.”

Tony looked at her with a searching gaze, “Are you sure?”

Ellie nodded, “I’m sure – in this day-and-age why would you use old techniques for hiding switches in desks when we have wireless now? Why would a guard have a book of passwords? Why would there be _one_ bookcase that looked even _mildly_ out of place when someone like Dupree could easily make it blend in with the others?”

“On top of that, isn’t it really convenient that this is just a few miles away from his house and the renovation company is a company with badly painted trucks and not even a working phone line?” Amadeus added.

Tony’s jaw twitched.

“Guys, pull out. The alarm had already went off so they could already be on to you.”

Steve grunted, “ _Affirmative, everyone meet back at the rendezvous point_.”

The other two were silent.

Tony paused.

“Nat?”

No response.

“Clint?”

No response.

Ellie was starting to panic now.

“Steve, get the hell out of there. I can’t –”

The whole map flashed an angry red.

Ellie jumped.

The alarm blared in the comm.

 _Fuck_.

“ _Dammit!_ ” Steve cursed in between his heavy breathing, probably sprinting through the house now as he tried to make his way out, “ _Nat, Clint – if you can hear me meet me back at the rendezvous!_ ”

Ellie wasn’t sure that they were listening.

She shot up from her chair and began to pace, wringing her hands together as the alarm continued to blare in the background of Steve’s heavy breathing and grunts. The display’s ominous red color set Ellie on edge, and the continued radio silence from Natasha and Clint worried her even more.

She was half tempted to say _to hell with this shit_ , and jump in a suit to go save their asses.

After a few minutes of nail-biting anxiety, Steve turned back on his locator signal and had boarded the Quinjet.

“ _I still haven’t seen Clint or Natasha_.”

“We haven’t heard anything either.”

Ellie walked to the display and leaned on the edge of it, her eyes dissecting every floating pixel as if she could will the two spies’ signals to life to show that they were alright. “Did you see anything while you were running?”

“ _Other than a bunch of guards who didn’t look friendly, no I didn’t see anything other than a normal mansion. The whole place looked like it got cleaned with a fine bristled toothbrush, even.”_

This whole thing had been a damn trap.

The sound of a crackle came through the feed, then the sound of a siren.

“ _Hey, anyone there?_ ”

Natasha.

“Natasha, what’s going on over there?” Tony seemed to be able to keep the majority of his nerves out of his voice.

“ _I had to fight off a bunch of guys to get out – I’m on my way now. I’m not sure about Clint._ ”

“We haven’t been able to get in contact with him either. Does anyone know what set off the alarm this time?”

“ _Beats me. I didn’t even get to pull one book out of the bookcase before the whole place lit up and a bunch of guys were on me_.”

“Clint’s probably fighting guys off too; try to find him if you can, if not get out.” Ellie spoke up, her voice once again being a solid piece of steel despite her own maelstrom of emotion welling in her chest and in her limbs.

“ _That’s the plan_.”

“ _No worries guys, I can take care of myself_.”

Ellie released a breath she didn’t know she had.

“Clint! Do you know what set the whole place off?”

Clint grunted, “ _I think one of the other guards may have come across their buddy… didn’t have the best of hiding spots for him, so I tried to make due_.”

“ _I’m almost there._ ” Natasha mumbled, the siren already had disappeared from her side of the feed and now the only sounds were that of her feet crushing some sticks underfoot every once in a while as she ran.

“ _Just made it out of the house, but I’ll be clearing the property soon_.” Clint let out an _oomph_ , then there was the sound of a twig snapping as he began to follow after Natasha’s lead.

“Hey Clint, you alright?” Ellie asked.

Clint blew air harshly through his teeth, “ _Yeah, one of those guys got a good hit on me and it still hurts a little bit. He hit like a damn semi-truck…_ ”

“We’ll get you patched up when you get back, for now just focus on getting out.”

“ _Like there was anything else dividing my attention_.”

“Don’t get snarky with me – come back in one piece or I’ll go over there and chop you to pieces myself.”

“ _I made it in. Clint, whenever you get here we’ll take off._ ” Natasha jumped in before Clint get another word in edgewise.

Five minutes later, all three of them were on the plane, and were already on their way back to base. Ellie and Tony looked at each other for a moment, a shared sigh of relief slipping into the air as the threat of losing somebody faded away to a statistical improbability.

Amadeus just shook his head, “I knew it wouldn’t have been that easy.”

Ellie waved him off, “Don’t worry about it. If anyone here is to blame it’s me, considering I know Dupree better than any of you and I didn’t stop this mission before it started.”

“Hey.”

Tony threw a balled up paper napkin at Ellie.

Ellie caught it and threw it back at him, where it hit against his nose.

The inventor huffed in slight offense, but shook off the grievance. “It’s _no one’s_ fault. This guy had attacked us at least two or three times now and has always been two steps ahead of us – we needed to do _something_. Also, you just went through a third attempt on your life in a row and stared death in the face. Stop being hard on yourself; _we’re_ the professionals, you’re not.”

Ellie’s brow twitched before she sank lower in her seat, taking a sip of her water bottle to keep from saying anything further.

Bruce stretched and checked his watch, then gave Ellie a look. “Hey, do you have classes today?”

Ellie shook her head, “No, the professor’s sick and he didn’t have a TA or anyone to fill in, so he canceled classes today.”

“Then you should go on ahead and get some sleep then, you’ve been here all night and you like you’re about to keel over.”

Ellie nodded numbly and rose from her seat, the weariness of staying up all through the night and still slightly recovering from blood loss adding unseen weight to her limbs. She gave a brief glance to the nodding-off Amadeus.

“Where’s he gonna sleep tonight?”

“I’ll set him up with the same gig you got on another floor, shock bracelet and all. Despite what you said, I’m still a little weary of him…” Tony said with a slight yawn.

“More like you hate the fact that he might be just as smart as or smarter than you.” Ellie was walking towards the doorway now.

Tony snorted, “ _No one_ is smarter than me.”

“Tell that to the guy who out-hacked your baby boy.”

Amadeus blinked slowly as he just processed the fact that they were talking about him as if he wasn’t even there. “He- _eeeey_. You guys are rude as hell.”

Ellie just lazily waved him off as she walked through the door.

“Night, losers.”

She heard mumbled replies back and shuffled back to the elevator, where the doors opened automatically and closed behind her softly when she was safely within.

When she arrive at her apartment the first thing she did was kick off her shoes, then made her way to her bedroom for some pajamas and a fresh pair of underwear. When she had finally made it to the bathroom and the shower began to run, she carefully pulled off all the bandages that were wrapped around her wounds, and wrinkled her nose at the sight of them.

Her arms were a wreck of angry red lines, traditional stitches, liquid stitches, and some bruises – one flap of flesh almost didn’t make it, but luckily it was salvageable – while the cuts on her back and leg, along with her stab wound, were all stitched up. There was a light bruise on her stomach where the air had been knocked out of her, and there were countless other bruises all over along with small cuts on her left cheekbone and right eyebrow. Thankfully, _those_ didn’t need stitches.

Huffing a little at the inconvenience of it all, she walked into the shower and carefully washed her beaten and bruised body. She was careful to not disturb the injuries any more than they had already been, and once the dirt and grime was rinsed away she walked out feeling fresh and renewed. She was still dead tired though.

With fresh clothes comfortably worn and wounds no longer needing to be redressed, she crawled into the perfect cocoon of blankets she had left morning prior on top of the bed and laid on her side, her head sinking heavily onto her pillow and her body relaxing for the first time in the last twelve hours or so.

As the sun began to peek over the horizon and light began to dance around her eyelids, she couldn’t help but notice that this particular sunrise was beautiful. Though that may have something to do with her near-death experience, she still thought it was beautiful. But the bright light impeded her from sleeping, so with a weary and disappointed air she flipped over onto her other side and closed her eyes, and only then did sleep claim her.

-

Ellie slowly roused herself from sleep as the sun blared holes through her retinas, making her outlandish dream of robot monkeys and world-saving computer chips fade into the world of obscurity. Though as her mind began to wake up she realized that considering the bizarreness of the dream, she was perfectly fine with just letting it fade away.

Multi-colored robot monkeys trying to save the world. She felt like that was a kid’s show at some point.

She shook the thought from her mind and rose up from the comfort of her comforter-encasement, carefully stretching when one of her stitches tugged a small bit but luckily didn’t come loose, and popped her back satisfyingly. She blinked as Jarvis said his typical morning greet and listed off the usual facts about the stock exchange until she noticed he was mentioning the date.

“Jarvis hold up – what’s today date?”

The AI paused his morning monologue, “ _Today’s date is July 18 th, 2013. As I mentioned earlier, you have been unconscious for twenty three hours, fifteen minutes, and forty-two seconds. It appeared your body required extra sleep to compensate for the trauma you experienced the day before last._”

So, her sleepy-time basically claimed her for twenty-four hours or so. Great, thank God she didn’t have any classes today either.

“Right. Sorry, Jarvis. I’m still slightly out of it.” Ellie rubbed her eyes tiredly as she touched her feet down onto the floor, the chill of the temperature difference running up her nerves and further waking her from sleep.

She rolled her shoulders as she made her way to her kitchen and pulled out a bowl, then perked her ears as she heard the _ding_ of the elevator.

When she looked up from grabbing a box of cereal out of the cabinet, Bruce was walking from around the corner with a full medical kit to which Ellie eyed with slight apprehension.

He raised his hands up in surrender, “I’m just going to check your stitches; you were asleep for a full day, so I just want to make sure you didn’t pull any of them.”

Ellie sighed as she sat the cereal back into the cabinet and walked over to the other side of the breakfast bar, “ _Fine_ , but you poke me with anything sharp and I’ll – well, no, I can’t hurt you because the Big Guy would hurt me back.” She screwed her face in disappointment when she realized her usual threat of violence seemed moot.

Bruce shook his head as Ellie showed him her arms, “And that’s why I’m always the one checking you – I’m not as easily threatened, and the other guys are only trained in First Aid. While Tony probably could learn the medical field easily, he doesn’t want to deal with you.”

She snorted when Bruce deemed her arms satisfactory, and wrapped them with new gauze. “That doesn’t surprise me.”

She turned her back to him and pulled her shirt up, letting him examine the stitches there.

“You’re healing up well, so it shouldn’t be too long before we have to remove these stitches… as long as you don’t pull any heroics.”

Ellie let out a noise of frustration as she felt him loop more gauze onto her body, “You guys are _never_ gonna let me live that whole Doom business down, are you? Look, the second time I had no choice – it was either fight or get captured, and I don’t know about you but I didn’t want to be another damsel-in-distress.”

He tapped her on the shoulder and she put her shirt back down, then sat down on the stool so she could roll up her pajama pant leg for Bruce to inspect the stitches there. Bruce hummed, “It’s the first time we’re ragging you about… and the time when you chased down a purse-snatcher from the middle of New York all the way to the Broncs.”

She rolled her eyes, “If the idiot would have just stayed in one spot and let me apprehend him nicely, then deliver him to the cops he wouldn’t have been beaten within an inch of his life and left for law enforcement to scrap off the sidewalk.”

Bruce applied the last of his rolled bandages onto her leg and rolled down her pajama pant leg with a sigh, “You’re gonna get yourself killed one of these days.”

She shrugged, “We all gotta die someday; if I had to die right now and my only choices were between dying in this apartment or taking a bad guy down with me, I would rather go down in a blaze of glory and die a hero’s death by pulling the son-of-a-bitch down with me.”

The doctor couldn’t help but shake his head again as mirth bubbled in his eyes, “You sound so much like Tony that it worries me.”

“I assure you, I was like this before I started hanging out with him in the lab to do science experiments.”

“That worries me even more.”

She just shrugged.

Bruce picked up his unused kit and made his way back to the elevator, “If you want to have something different for breakfast you can come up top if you want. I think Steve was going to make waffles for everybody… and I think it would be good for everyone to see you walking around, _alive_.”

Ellie nodded as she got down from the stool and walked back into the kitchen to put her bowl away, “Waffles beat cereal any day… and boosting everyone’s morale definitely beats eating alone.”

She paused as she closed the cabinet door, a thought popping up in her mind.

“Hey, doc.”

Bruce poked his head from around the corner, “Yes?”

Ellie turned, and walked forward with a pensive look on her face, “What happened to Amadeus while I was out?”

Bruce just smiled, “Considering the kid had nowhere to go and he was able to give us some good information about Dupree while you were indisposed, we decided he should stay with us at least until our collective thorn in our side was out of the picture. Right now he’s currently trying to sift through some networks to see what he can dig up.”

Ellie walked around the corner and stood beside him in front of the elevator, “Good. He’s been through a lot, so having a place where he can take a little bit of a breather should be good for him…”

Ellie trailed off as her mind brought up Amadeus’ face to the forefront.

_Why did he look like Mark?_

Bruce noticed her faraway look with a small frown, “What are you thinking about?”

Ellie sighed, “I just can’t seem to figure out _why_ Amadeus looks like Mark. The last I knew, Mark wasn’t interested in acting in anything but his own projects… I had a feeling it was because he was one of those people that liked being the Director and the Actor, you know?”

Bruce nodded, “So, what do you think this means?”

Ellie sighed, “I’m worried a lot of time has passed back home. _Too_ _much_ time if Mark changed his mind and did star in a Marvel film while I was gone. Damn, and I didn’t even get to see him finish his let’s play of… uh…”

_Of what?_

_What was I watching before I got snatched?_

Ellie began to feel distressed as she felt her mind draw up a blank; this wasn’t right. Only a month and a couple of weeks had passed since she arrived here, so there was _no way_ she could have already forgotten something like that… her mind was like a steel cage when it came to those things.

Bruce laid a gentle hand on her shoulder as the elevator _dinged_ , startling her slightly and pulling her from her mind. “Are you okay?”

She took a deep breath, “Yeah, I’m fine. I just can’t remember the last video I watched of Mark’s… which, hopefully, is probably because I took too many hits to the head over the past month or so.”

Bruce’s hand fell as they both walked in, “It’s possible, but I don’t think it’s really anything to worry about unless something else pops up. It’s possible you just simply forgot.”

Ellie nodded, but didn’t really feel any better as the elevator started bringing them up to where the rest of the team was. “Yeah, you’re right I guess.”

Awkward silence.

Bruce cleared his throat, “Besides, if there was something going on with your memory I wouldn’t know where to start looking on how to fix it.”

Ellie hummed, but didn't seem to respond to his attempt at a joke.

“I’ll keep you updated.” She shifted her weight to her other side, “What else happened when I was under?”

“Hydra decided to rear its ugly head again and attacked a few heavy traffic areas, but we were able to capture a few agents before they could kill themselves. They’re being questioned by S.H.I.E.L.D as we speak. Though, last I heard they’re not cracking.”

Ellie shook her head slightly, “Whatever they’re doing isn’t good – you guys remember what I told you about their endgame, right?”

“Yeah, that they were trying to summon a monster from the depths of hell? Your description on _what_ it was painted a very vivid picture.”

“I only wish there was more I could give you, but I don’t have anything else.”

The elevator was slowing to a stop, “Its fine – you’re doing the best you can. You’ve definitely gotten us farther in just a month than anything we have ever done with three times that much of time, and we’ve saved a lot of lives because of it.”

Ellie shrugged, “Just trying to do my part.”

“And you’re doing a good job of it.”

The doors opened and the heavenly smell of Steve’s cooking wafted to their noses as they walked out of the elevator and to the dining area where everyone was gathered up to eat breakfast. Natasha perked up at their approaching footsteps, and smiled at the sight of Ellie.

“Hey there – you’re a sight for sore eyes.”

“Funny, that is the one thing that _isn’t_ sore…” Ellie answered.

Natasha’s eyes softened, “It’s good to see you up and walking around. You used to look like a walking corpse with bandages.”

Ellie gingerly sat down next to the red head, “Believe me, I’m glad to be awake. My dreams were starting to disturb me a little bit.”

Tony drifted behind her, “Isn’t that normal for you, though?”

Ellie threw her shoe at him.

It bounced off his retreating back, and he squawked at the impact.

“Hey!”

Steve’s voice echoed all around them.

“No throwing shoes while you’re still stitched up – in fact, _no throwing shoes at all_.” The captain’s authorative voice called out from the kitchen as he stood over the stove and flipped some bacon.

Ellie rolled her eyes, “Okay, _Dad_ …”

She heard him groan, “Please don’t call me that.”

Natasha snickered while Ellie buried her laughter deep in her chest.

“Why? Is it because of your age? Do you prefer me call you Papa or Gramps?”

“I prefer _neither_ of those things, thanks.”

Clint slid into the seat in front of the two females on the other side of the table, “Glad to see you’re still up to your old habits of abusing Tony and giving Steve a hard time.”

“It’s not abuse! Its corporal punishment for a misbehaving man-child who doesn’t listen. And I can’t help messing with dear _Steven_ – he’s too adorable and precious for me _not_ to.”

Natasha was starting to laugh a little harder now, while Clint and Bruce just shook their heads, and Steve just sighed again. Tony came from around the corner with coffee in one hand and Ellie’s shoe tucked underneath his arm.

Ellie made grabby hands at Tony, “Gimme.”

“No, you keep throwing it at me.”

“I’ll throw the other one at you too if you don’t give me back my shoe.”

“ _Steve_ , she’s being mean to me again!”

Steve sighed, harder this time.

“Ellie, stop throwing your shoes at him – Tony, be an adult for once, give her back her shoe, and stop antagonizing her. Then maybe she wouldn’t throw her shoe at you.”

Natasha couldn’t hide her laughter anymore, and Clint joined in with her. Ellie started giggling herself, and when she looked over at Bruce he had a crack of a smirk on his face, and an all-knowing look in his eye.

Ellie gave a slight nod, and watched as Steve put the cooked bacon aside on a paper plate covered with a paper towel to soak up the excess grease…

And holy crap, there was _a lot_ of bacon.

Ellie’s brow stitched itself together, “What’s shaken with that much bacon?”

Steve just turned off the stove and moved to take out the finished batch of waffles from the waffle maker, “Thor said he might be popping in this morning, and he always decimates the bacon.”

Ellie felt a little shot of adrenaline run through her system. Thor the Thunderer, the Prince of Asgard, wielder of Mjolnir, member of the Avengers… was coming in for breakfast.

This was going to be interesting.

Ellie just rolled her shoulders; she didn’t have anything to fear from the big guy, and she was pretty sure that Heimdall probably watched her grand entrance so Thor and Odin might have already knew about her existence, and if they were watching her as closely or closer than the team did then they would know she was not their enemy.

At least, she hoped they would think that. There was a very small probability that he might be hostile, but it was very small.

It was still there though. And it was concerning.

Steve picked up the giant plate of waffles and sat it next to the bacon, putting a cover over it and placing another one over the bacon as he drained most of the grease from the pan. He poured in another batch into the waffle maker, then turned the stove back on and walked over to the fridge to pull out a large bowl with a whisk in it, which he then used to whip up an egg and milk mixture before he poured some into the pan that still had trace amounts of bacon grease in it.

Ellie couldn’t help but feel a small pang – her dad made breakfast the same way every Sunday. The portions were smaller, and he never made anything with wheat _or_ milk in it because of her step-mother’s allergies, but the methods were all the same.

For the first time in a small bit, she felt a bite of home-sickness.

 _Rumble-rumble-rumble-rumble_.

The whole building shuddered around them for a second or two.

Tony sighed.

“Great, another rune has been burnt into yet _another_ one of my buildings. Can’t these guys touchdown from outer space off site and just _walk into_ the building like normal people?” The inventor griped as Jarvis politely informed them that Thor had arrived via the roof, and was currently taking the roof access stairs to their location.

Ellie shrugged, “Maybe they just want to keep the shenanigans limited to a controlled environment, and save themselves the ridiculous cab fares getting bused here.”

Tony just gave Ellie a look, “Asgardians are not known for their subtlety.”

Ellie paused, and nodded in agreement, “Point taken.”

“ _My friends_!”

Ellie jumped at the positively _booming_ voice that erupted from behind her.

Everyone else said their own hellos, unfazed.

“I am glad to see you all still alive despite the many battles you have fought as of late.” Ellie turned around in her seat to regard the hulking man as he walked into the room, “And I have heard of a new warrior amongst us.”

Steve pointed his spatula at Thor threateningly, “She’s a civilian – and is _officially banned from any heroics_.”

Ellie raised her hands in defeat, “Hey, I _know_ that, okay? I’m not going to chase some purse snatcher all through New York again! Yeesh… chase a guy _one time_ …”

Thor clapped a hearty hand on Ellie’s shoulder, which made her jump almost ten feet out of her skin from the suddenness of it; her autism almost went haywire for a moment before she brought herself back under control, “A bystander she may be, but Heimdall speaks grandly of this woman’s battles.”

Ellie waved her hand dismissively, “Tis nothing.”

He looked over her bandages as he removed his hand, “The wounds you suffered would speak otherwise, Lady…?”

“Ariel. But you can call me Ellie... and just drop the whole, ‘Lady’ thing while you’re at it.”

“Ellie it is then. Heimdall speaks highly of your exploits and your energetic arrival into our midst.”

Ellie once again waved him off, sensing the darkened look from Steve. “Again, ‘Tis nothing. I merely did what I had to.”

Thor sat down gently in the seat next to her – mostly because that one was the only other empty seat besides Steve’s and Tony’s, and the inventor was glaring daggers at him because the force of Thor Odinson slamming his butt down on the seat would probably crush it underneath his bulk – and laughed, “What you have done is not mere _nothing_ , especially for one of your experience.”

Ellie raised an eyebrow as she accepted a coffee mug from Tony who had made a trip into the kitchen for everyone’s drinks, “Of my experience?”

Thor nodded, “I was under the impression that while you were attacked by Doctor Doom you had no true experience on the battle field.”

Ellie shrugged, “Yeah, that’s true. I haven’t even been in a schoolhouse fight.”

It was Tony’s turn to raise an eyebrow as he sat down after finishing his appointed duty, “That’s surprising considering you’re the person who chased a purse snatcher all the way through New York, and beat him bloody.”               

Ellie shrugged again, “I was a different person before High school, and even then I never got into fights because I managed to scare people through pure bullshitery.”

Thor’s face lit up, “You must have had a fierce presence to instill such a reaction.”

A quiver of a smirk wiggled on Ellie’s face.

“Well, I mean, I _did_ have my entire high school and the neighboring middle school scared of me.”

Everyone stopped.

And everyone stared.

Ellie just casually took a sip of her coffee and ignored their stares.

“How did you manage that without beating the crap out of someone?” Ellie gently set her mug own at Tony’s inquiry.

“Well, it all started in my eighth grade year; I was in a different school district just as a FYI, but basically I was getting picked on by two bullies – one because she that I was a weak crybaby, and the other because she had a fricking caterpillar under her nose so she decided to make fun of my peach fuzz.”

Thor’s expression became pinched, “Children are cruel people.”

“Indeed. But, anyway, finally I got so sick and tired of being bullied by Bully Two about the hair that I went up to her one day – _with_ her posse surrounding her mind you – and told her that if she didn’t stop her bullshit I would rearrange her face so bad that not even a plastic surgeon would be able to save it.”

Natasha whistled.

“And I _scared_ _the living daylights_ out of her. She didn’t even feel safe with her group of girls with her – hell, Bully One was witness to the whole thing and about crapped her pants right there.”

Clint chuckled, “Yeah, I can see that happening.”

Tony tapped his chin, “But if this happened in another district, how did –”

“Hush, I’m getting there – and don’t worry about ‘districts’ Thor… just think of them as separate education entities like fighting school versus magic school.”

At Ellie’s assurance, the confused look on Thor’s face dropped.

She cleared her throat.

“Anyway, freshman year of high school rolls around and once again I was getting picked on, only now it was by some seniors in gym. Despite me telling them to leave me alone and giving out promises of horrible disfiguration, they decided to continue anyway. So in response I decided to take matters into my own hands… By chasing them with my biology textbook.”

Thor laughed.

“This must have been a sizable book.”

“It was, and at first they were all having a good time in getting me all riled up… until I deployed gorilla-warfare-tactics and almost knocked one of them out.”

“ _Then_ they got scared, right?” Natasha asked.

“Yup – to the point where they thought running into the boy’s locker room would save them. They thought _wrong_.”

Tony cackled, “That must have been a funny scene – all the guys half naked and getting undressed, and all of a sudden some crazy girl with a textbook runs through chasing their buddies? They must have been nose-diving for their lockers to hide themselves.”

“Crazy girl with glasses, mind you. And they _were_ diving for their lockers to hide their boys… but I digress; I eventually chased them out of the locker room and into the custody of the gym teacher. The greatest thing was that I got away with it while they all got in trouble.”

“So this is why they all feared you?” Asked Thor.

Ellie shook her head, “No, what made them fear me is the compounding of this story, the next one, and the last one after that. Okay, so in my sophomore year there was some punk kid in my art class who kept wise-cracking and disrupting class. The teacher couldn’t control him and he was getting increasingly worse until I finally got out of my seat, stood over him, and said…

‘Boy, you say one more word and I’m putting your face through that table and into that three-thousand degree kiln, _got it_?’”

“What was his response?”

“He looked like he about pissed himself while meekly saying, ‘Yes ma’am’.”

Clint joined in on Tony’ laughter, while Steve just shook his head.

“Okay, so what was the straw-that-broke-the-camel’s-back?” Natasha asked, leaning in as she metaphorically chomped at the bit.

Ellie shook her head as she took a sip of her drink, “The thing that made them scared of me was in that same year there was a guy who decided to keep picking on me despite my growing reputation, and as a result one morning the story goes that I got in such a rage that I took his head...”

Natasha’s eyes widened, “You didn’t…”

“And _smashed_ it into the glass display in the auditorium hallway.”

Steve looked shocked as he turned to look at her, a waffle secured in his tongs as he removed it from the waffle-maker. “Did you really?”

Ellie shook her head with a sour expression, “ _Hell no_ , I wasn’t even in the building that morning – I was at the orthodontist’s office getting my braces tightened.”

Thor looked confused, “Then who attacked him?”

“No one because the guy had tripped and _fell_ into the display, and people had blamed the whole thing on me because he had been picking on me and there was a girl who looked _just_ like me that just _happened_ to walk by right at the same time – despite this girl being a full foot _shorter_ than me. Pure coincidence.”

Tony snorted, “Sounds as plausible as me lifting Thor’s hammer.”

Ellie glared, “Either way, the staff thought there was enough validity behind the rumor to question my best friend Rachelle, who said and I quote, ‘ _She won’t attack unless provoked_.’”

Thor nodded thoughtfully, “That sounds fair, but from what I have gathered is that schools in your society punish both parties despite the circumstances.”

Ellie just shrugged, “Didn’t matter because they reviewed the footage on the cameras which showed that he had indeed tripped, and checked their attendance logs to see that I couldn’t have done anything since I wasn’t even in the building, so I wasn’t even talked to. But the damage had been done… I wasn’t even aware of the implication so when the next year rolled around _no one_ messed with me and I had no idea why.”

Steve deposited the plates of food onto the middle of the table while Clint came in behind him with individual plates and silverware for everyone, “Didn’t anyone tell you what happened?”

Ellie shook her head, “No, because everybody believed without a shadow of a doubt that I had hurt the kid, so why tell me about something that I already did? Plus, they probably didn’t want to suffer any wrath that might have come their way if somehow bringing up the incident caused me to go into a rage.”

Bruce thanked Clint as he reached forward and spooned some eggs onto his plate, “But you weren’t even the least bit curious as to _why_ nobody was messing with you?”

Ellie shrugged, and also thanked Clint for the plate and utensils, “I was too focused on other things in my immediate personal life to really worry about the behavioral patterns of my fellow classmates and their shenanigans, so I really didn’t care. The only time I noted something had been off was when I verbally squared off with a sophomore in choir class only for her face to go so white that her makeup looked two shades too dark. Also, thanks for breakfast by the way.”

Steve shrugged as he placed the butter and the syrup on the table, “It’s not a problem.”

Natasha shook her head as she got up from her seat, “Sounds like you had an interesting High School career.”

Ellie shrugged as she grabbed the tongs for the bacon before Thor could decimate the plate, “I didn’t do much really outside of the choir, my art classes, and FBLA the next year.”

Steve and Clint finally sat down to deposit food onto their own plates, while the inventor was already drizzling syrup onto his waffles. “Did you go anywhere with any of it?” the super solider asked.

“My art classes ended up flopping on me, while I made it to Nationals with both my choir and the FBLA.”

“Sounds busy.”

“It was, but at the same time it wasn’t. I barely remember High school thanks to the monotony that it was, and because of the fact that I was a recluse… a by-product of constantly being bullied and other things, really. I did end up making some friends in the end that I still keep– …”

Ellie stumbled over the word for a second. She was certain the others noticed it.

“… _Kept_ in touch with. We bonded with each other pretty closely, and we were practically family since… well… we didn’t have the best families in the whole world.”

Ellie had dressed her plate without knowing it with a good amount of bacon, eggs, and a _big_ waffle. There was butter that was passed to her from Natasha who had returned to her seat several minutes ago from her trip to the kitchen to retrieve a cup of coffee, and the syrup was in the possession of Steve at the end of the table but was only a couple minutes away from being in her custody.

When she stopped talking for a moment and took in the scene around her, she couldn’t help but akin the whole thing to a family breakfast from one of those movies portraying a dysfunctional-but-functional family.

Thor was obviously playing the part of the giant food-inhaling Jock, what with his bulging muscles that looked like they could crush Ellie into a fine paste, and the startlingly large amount of eggs, four waffles, and _gigantic_ stack of bacon.

If it wasn’t grammatically incorrect, it would be _gigantic_ with a capital “ _G_ ”.

Clint was the lean-muscled counter to Thor, though his plate was nowhere _near_ Thor’s leaning-tower-of-Pisa on his plate. It had to be a fourth of what Thor was chowing down on; Natasha pretty much mirrored this as well.

Steve had about… maybe a third of what Thor was eating? Which was definitely more than what Clint and Natasha had, thanks to his accelerated metabolism no doubt, but it wasn’t topping Thor anytime soon. Not that anybody _wanted_ to top Thor anytime soon.

Tony, of course, was probably the only one at the table who had a normal-sized portion of food.

Ellie double checked her plate.

Yep, Tony was the _only_ one who had a normal portion, considering Ellie’s was halfway between Clint and Steve’s amount.

She knitted her eyebrows for a moment.

“Hey, where’s Amadeus at?”

Steve swallowed his bite of food before answering, “He’s down in the lab, looking for any trace of Dupree that we can use to our advantage.”

Tony hummed, “I invited him to join us, but he didn’t want to. He seemed pretty focused on what he was doing.”

Ellie sighed and stood from her seat, “I’ll make him a plate.”

Tony waved her off, “No, sit down and eat.”

Ellie gave him a look, “Amadeus has this unique ability to make his brain process things so fast that it would have the most state-of-the-art super computers eating his dust, but the consequences of such is that he expends _massive_ amounts of energy each time he does that.”

Bruce gave Tony a look as well as Ellie breezed past on her way to the cupboard, “Meaning that if his energy reserves go out he will either pass out or his body will start to devour itself, and the latter will definitely happen if he goes without food for too long.”

Ellie had one plate out, but hesitated on the second.

She grabbed it anyway.

And grabbed a third one for good measure. Along with a cup of coffee, and three glasses of water.

Tony threw his hands up, “ _Alright_ , go play Mom. Just don’t say I didn’t warn you.”

Ellie returned to the table with the plates and some silverware, and loaded up the plates all the way to the edges. She was pleased when she had managed to secure her desired amount of bacon before Thor inhaled the rest, noting silently to herself that the man was a living vacuum cleaner when it came to food.

A tray mounted on repulsors came _zooming_ from around the corner, and stopped directly next to Ellie’s hip with the coffee and water already upon its shiny surface. She looked up to the camera in the corner of the room and nodded to it, “Thanks, Jarvis.”

“ _It was no problem, Ms. Ellie_.”

Ellie laid all three of Amadeus’ plates on the tray with his silverware, while also placing her own breakfast next to it with her coffee. When she was satisfied with the placement of everything and was sure of the plates’ security, she went back and pushed in her chair, and turned to go down the stairs.

She threw a smile and a wave over her shoulder, “I’ll see you guys around – I’m going to go feed Amadeus before he goes into a self-induced coma. It was nice to meet you, Thor.”

Thor nodded as he swallowed a Thor-sized bite, “Thank you, and good luck with the young fellow.”

Everyone else gave their own farewells, and returned to the banquet of food that Steve was so damn good at making. She turned to the path in front of her and let the smile fade a little, then here she made her way down to the elevator that was waiting patiently with open doors.

The little floating tray of food followed her in, and held itself suspended in midair as the steel doors closed and the elevator, upon the command of Jarvis, started the journey down to where ever Amadeus had holed himself up for his task.

When the elevator finally stopped and Ellie walked out, she noticed that they had arrived in Tony’s workshop, though most of the clutter that was his most precious experiments had been cleared away and everything looked clean sans the stains and scorch marks. He probably had everything put away before Amadeus came in to keep any possibility of theft off the table.

It never hurt to be a little cautious, even if you had an inter-dimensional girl tell you that without a doubt he was a good guy. You never know when someone could have a turning point despite the inter-dimensional girl saying otherwise and proving herself trustworthy.

Paranoia, for the win.

Ellie walked forward with the tray following, and spotted Amadeus on the other side of the lab, his hands almost literally flying over holographic keyboards and his focus divided between many different screens with _huge_ amounts of data whizzing by so fast that, if Ellie squinted her eyes, the screens would all look pure white.

When she finally arrived at his side, she swore his hands and the images had only gotten faster. His focus on the multiple screens was so laser-like and unwavering she couldn’t help but akin the whole scene to one of her own hyper-focused episodes when her autism took over completely; everything would be blocked out – anything not related to whatever would be in front of her be it light, sound, her own bodily needs of food or water, or even _time_ , none of it would register and would merely be set aside like an old toy.

Well, that is until her bladder had other ideas.

She blinked.

And flicked Amadeus’ shoulder.

He jumped fifteen feet in the air and looked like he was about to have a heart attack, while the screens all around him seemed to take a few seconds before the visual interface finally registered that he had stopped.

 _Damn_.

The Korean American glared slightly at her, but only slightly as the still somehow warm food wafted over his nose.

“So…” he swallowed, his voice sounding a little hoarse, “I guess you’re not dead.”

She shrugged as she sat down, “It takes a lot more than what’s transpired in the last sixty-or-so hours to kill me. Plus, I wanted to make sure you weren’t working yourself into a coma or early death from the lack of food.”

The tray floated down for emphasis.

Ellie gently removed her things from it and placed them on the little counter, which in response made the holographic keyboard disappear as the computer placed it somewhere else next to Amadeus unseen.

Said teenager blinked at the amount of food.

And blushed when his stomach rumbled louder than it had ever previously.

Ellie smirked as she daintily scooped some eggs onto her fork and took a bite, then swallowed it. “I know what kind of gift you have Amadeus, and I know that if you don’t take care of yourself your gift will become a disease and kill you. Take a break and eat something.”

He gave her a weary look before starting to dig into the first plate, “You still haven’t explained how you know so much about me, but I can’t even find _anything_ about you aside from your birth records, school records, and your current address.”

She took another bite, “I never said would. All I said was that I was going to help you take down Dupree so you wouldn’t have to run anymore – and I’m making good on that promise.”

Amadeus gave her a look, “You like being the mysterious one, don’t you?”

“It’s more of a necessity of my soul than a social preference.”

“That… doesn’t make sense, and yet it does.”

“That’s the usual response of anyone who has an interaction with me.”

“Confusion and slight frustration?”

“Confusion and _awe_ , dear Ama.”

He blinked, “Don’t call me that.”

She blinked back, “Your name is a mouth full and it’s either that or whatever wicked nickname Tony comes up for you; take your pick. Just so you know, he refers to me as _Fins_.”

Amadeus swallowed as he gave her a look, “Why does he call you that?”

“My full name is Ariel.”

Then it hit him.

And he laughed.

So Ellie kicked him in shin.

He yelped.

“Ow! What the hell?!”

“The only one who gets to make mermaid jokes at my expense is _me_ , thank you very much.”

He finished off his first plate and picked up the second, “You’re incredibly mean.”

“So says the boy who just had three plates of breakfast delivered to him by said mean person.”

He grumbled, “Touché.”

Ellie had finished half of her plate at the same time Amadeus had only a quarter of his left. She narrowed her eyes as a thought came to her.

“How long have you been down here?”

Amadeus paused for a moment and absentmindedly swallowed the piece of bacon in his mouth as he mulled the question around in his head.

“Since… before dinner…?”

Ellie blinked.

“ _The current time is eleven forty-five am, Ms. Ellie._ ”

“Thank you, Jarvis.” Ellie took another bite of her breakfast and noted that Amadeus had now started on his third plate.

God, he hadn’t eaten in over ten hours, and he had been running his mind at full speed that _entire time_. She shuddered to think what would have happened to Amadeus should he had been left unattended for any longer than he had.

She put her empty plate and silverware onto the tray that _zoomed_ back to her side, and watched it from the corner of her eye as it took the dishes off to a chute where it proceeded to disappear out of her view. She picked up her coffee mug and tapped the rim, “Maybe you should get some sleep after you eat Amadeus – I get that you can work ten times faster than some of the fastest super-computers in the world, but you’re only human. Besides, Jarvis can pick up the slack while you’re out cold.”

Amadeus sat down the third plate, barren as the last two and only then had he began to drink his coffee. Though, he only sipped the substance. “I’m almost done, just need to check a few more places.”

Ellie shook her head, “If you overclock a processor too much you’ll fry it – take a break and cool down. Jarvis may not look like it to you, but he can get pretty quick when he needs to. Let him take over and sleep.”

“I honestly would rather do this myself.”

Ellie gave him a light glare, “Okay, you can try. But don’t blame me when you miss something due to the lack of sleep.”

It was his turn to glare, “It hasn’t bothered me before.”

“The stakes were never this high before.”

“They were always this high.”

“Not when the lives of the Avengers and a mysterious young woman are involved.”

He sighed, and rubbed his eyes tiredly.

“Alright, I’ll go take a nap or something after I finish up and clean everything up.”

“Don’t worry about the mess, I’ll get it. You just rest.”

His hand dropped from his eyes so he could at her in the face, the exhaustion already starting to seep in.

She gave Amadeus _The Look_.

“No arguments. Just sit back and enjoy your coffee, then go to bed. I really doubt that Dupree is going to attack us again after we thoroughly handed him his own ass.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I AM SO SORRY FOR DROPPING OFF THE FACE OF THE PLANET!!! AAAAAAAH!
> 
> Ahem, anyway, I had a really rough start to the year thanks to not only getting sick but also transitioning into a new job, and also dealing with a urgent clinic chain called FastMed running a racket against me - they tried charging me five times more than I owed! And THEY were the ones who misdiagnosed me the first time!
> 
> But I digress, all of that is over now and now I should be able to get back on track with this. You all are going to LOVE what's in store, I just know it! Also, if anyone can give me pointers on Amadeus' personality in the comics that would be wonderful~
> 
> And any feedback is appreciated!


	12. Kill or Be Killed

_A Week Later_

Ellie narrowed her eyes as she focused on the circuit board in front of her; her soldering iron was smooth and steady, and her concentration was second to none as she worked with the beyond minuscule processors and electrical nodes. She was bent fully over her work, with her magnifying glasses perched at the end of her nose.

With a small _zap_ , she firmly set the final piece into place.

She pulled back, a deep breath whizzing past her lips as she sat back from her position. Her back _popped_ , and she felt a small tremor run through her shoulders as the bare skin exposed by her purple tank top met the air flow of the air conditioning.

She put her soldering iron down, and pulled her gloves off and set them down next to the iron. She took her goggles off and sat them next to her discarded tools and picked up her finished circuit board in her hand, a little bounce in her step as she made her way to Tony who was also crouched over something on his workbench.

She tapped his shoulder with her free hand.

Tony stilled, and put his tool to the side as he sat up to face Ellie. “You finished it?”

She nodded, “Yep, there was one piece that didn’t want to cooperate for a bit, but I got it.”

Tony gingerly took the circuit from her and applied it to what he was working on, “Nice. You’ve gotten a lot better at this, Fins.”

Ellie shrugged as she moved to the other side of the table, choosing a wordless answer instead as she sat down softly on a rolling chair. Though, Tony only caught a glimpse of it as he bent back down and began soldering things together again in the piece of a new suit he was building.

Ellie turned to look at the countdown counter on the floating holographic display, and noted that it was going to be another two minutes until it was done. Ellie sighed.

“Seriously, does it really take over seven hours long for the other suit pieces to be made?”

Tony shrugged, “The timer includes the time it takes to paint them too, just so you know.”

“Well, when you put it like that…”

She sat her chin in her hand and drummed her fingers against her cheek, slowly spinning in place. “You sure this is going to work?”

“It should – the suit is coated in adamantium so it shouldn’t be _nearly_ as heavy as it would have been if it was completely made out of it…”

“Even _if_ we could get our hands on that much adamantium.”

“This was all Thor’s last year’s Christmas present, by the way.”

“ _Really_? Well, he is part of the royal family so they would definitely have access to this kind of stuff… I’m just surprised he was able to give any to you.”

“Odin thought it was a good exchange for Thor eating so much food and constantly putting runes into my buildings that have to be fixed.”

“Compensation makes friends.”

“Indeed.”

Ellie’s chair slowly stopped to where she was facing Tony head on. She focused her eyes on the work Tony was doing as a thought came to her mind.

“Are you sure you want to do this? I mean, Steve is _really_ set against me having anything to do with _heroics_ …”

Tony waved her off, “What he doesn’t know won’t hurt him. Besides, after the last few times I think you at least deserve a suit that actually _fits_ you… you know, just in case you need it.”

“And you like to be the rebel.”

“When you put it like that you make me sound like I’m the rogue element here.”

“You are, essentially. And you’ve been pretty loosey-goosey with stuff _way_ before now anyway, with your, ‘ _I do what I want’_ attitude and whatnot.”

“It’s nice to know you think so highly of me.”

“It’s nice to know you have the same comprehension of sarcasm as Sheldon Cooper.”

Tony looked up from his work and narrowed his eyes at Ellie through the goggles, which only made him look even more comical with the way they seemed to make his eyes look two times bigger than they were really were. She had to fight to keep from laughing.

“You’re starting to make me second guess this whole suit thing.”

“No I’m not – you were going to do it anyway with or without my consent because Steve forbade it.”

“Touché.”

“ _The suit pieces are finished,_ Sir. _They are in route from R &D to the lab._” Jarvis chirped happily… or as happily as he could sound.

“Thanks, Jarvis. You were always my favorite son.”

“And poor Dum-E always gets the brunt of your frustration, despite the fact you made him like that.”

Tony pointed a small tool at Ellie accusingly, “Lies and slander.”

“So says the slanderer and liar himself.”

“Is my name Loki?”

“No, but it’s hard to tell the difference between the two of you sometimes, again, the whole ‘ _I do what I want, motherfuckers_ ’ seems to a strong connection between the both of you.”

“The _only_ connection.”

“There is more, but I’m not gonna say.”

Tony narrowed his eyes at her again, and Ellie had to bite her lip to keep from snickering at how his eyes looked again.

As Tony went to open his mouth to say something else, the little drones flew down from the high ceiling with their precious cargo in tow.

Multiple pieces of adamantium-coated materials of which included nitinol, an unnamed carbon-tubing material, crystalized titanium, ballistic mesh, and a bunch of other things Ellie had never even heard of before cut into various shapes and sizes were lowered down onto the table in front of them; each piece splashed with either black or purple paint.

Tony rubbed his hands together in almost unrestrained glee as he looked at the new pieces. “You know, despite the questionable color scheme, this actually looks really good…”

Ellie flipped her ponytail back over her shoulder, “I told you it’d look good... plus, since everybody has already pretty much figured out that there’s a new addition in Avenger’s Tower I might as well make a big splash with my own colors, you know?”

“You’re still wearing a suit made by me, though.”

“And Thor’s hammer was made by awesomely powerful dwarves who forged it in the heart of a dying star. Your point?”

“But none of them were Tony Stark.”

“Iron Patriot was made by you.”

“That doesn’t count since Hammer messed with it.”

“It’s still your suit, just modified.”

Tony was silent as he pointedly ignored Ellie’s statement and begin soldering pieces of circuitry, sensors, wires, and various other gadgets and gizmos a-plenty to the metal of a random suit piece.

“You aren’t gonna join in?” he asked.

Ellie raised an eyebrow.

“You expect me to help you put together a suit when I have no idea what piece goes where or even which piece does what?”

Tony paused after he pulled his soldering iron away from a newly attached circuit, it finally occurring to him that while Ellie now had a understanding of the suits’ circuitry she really didn’t know what each piece needed… nor did she even know where to start.

He shrugged.

“Well, then maybe you should go hang out with your new boytoy Amadeus.”

Tony ducked as Ellie threw a tool at him.

“He ain’t my boytoy.”

“Could have fooled me with how you seem to hang around him all the time.”

“He won’t talk to anyone _but_ me, since I’m the only one he trusts.”

“You mean he’s the only one whose butt you look at.”

Ellie threw another tool at Tony.

“Hey!”

“Stop it.”

“What? It’s true!”

“I’m not staring at anyone’s butt.”

“Really? Then why have I caught you staring?”

She threw yet another tool, with this one coming close to clipping the side of his forehead.

“ _Would you stop throwing things at me?_ ”

“Stop being a pervert and I’ll stop throwing things at you.”

“ _Fine_. Damn killjoy…”

Ellie hummed triumphantly and she rose from her seat and made her way to the elevator, her concentration pooled into figuring out what she was going to do next since her venture into engineering was done for the day. A shower was definitely in order.

Maybe she would try out that new game console Tony had set up in the lounge… she was itching for some payback against Clint for the _Betrayal in Terrorist Town_ … betrayal.

Don’t ask.

-

Ellie grumbled lightly in her sleep as she turned over onto her other side, her front facing the sunlight flooding through the window of the lounge as she comfortably napped on the leather couch in front of the television that she never turned back off. She ended up not playing anything since Clint and Natasha were away doing spy-stuff, Bruce was out of the country at the moment, classes were out due to some sort of incident at her college, and everyone else was busy doing what they were doing, so she just took a nap.

She twitched as her half-conscious mind picked up the light pitter-patter of footsteps.

And jumped when someone smacked her feet.

Her greenish-blue eyes flashed opened in annoyance as she trained her gaze on the foot offender.

Amadeus just raised an eyebrow as he swallowed a well-chewed Lays potato chip. “Your big ass legs are taking up the whole couch.”

Ellie glared, “You could have just asked me to move – I was only half asleep.”

He smirked as he sat down in the space her feet had vacated, “But there’s no fun in that.”

She rolled her eyes, “Asshole.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere.” He threw another chip in his mouth, and looked around for a moment. “Where’s the remote?”

Ellie airily leveled her head up on her arm as she focused on the television – an approximation of Dr. Phil was on. His name was Dr. Johb. “I dunno.”

Amadeus leveled a look at her she could _feel,_ as if he was trying to flay the skin off her face with just a look.

“I can smell the bullshit from here.” He said flatly.

“Wow, I’m surprised you can smell yourself so well – most people have a problem with realizing their shit does actually stink.”

“More like I’m smelling _your_ bullshit.”

She gasped, her hand flying to her heart as she turned to him. “How _hurtful_ of you!”

Amadeus set his jaw, “Dude, just give me the remote.”

“No.”

He glared, “Seriously, man, just give me the remote.”

“After you smacked my precious feet like you did, you’re lucky you’re even able to sit on this couch at all.” She turned away to look back at the television.

His eyes narrowed on Ellie, “I’m giving you five seconds to give me the remote or I’m taking it from you.”

“Oh, really now?”

“ _One_.”

“Are you seriously doing the countdown thing?”

“ _Two_.”

“Wow, look over here everyone – Sergeant Dad is in the house.”

 “ _Three_.”

He sat his bowl of potato chips on the coffee table.

“...”

“ _Four_.”

“I’m not moving.”

“ ** _Five_**.”

Amadeus shot forward and pinned Ellie against the arm of the couch, her legs trapped underneath him as he rummaged behind Ellie’s side for the remote.

“ _’Ey, ‘Ey, ‘Ey!_ Hands off the good, pal!” Ellie exclaimed loudly, purposefully squirming around and blocking off Amadeus from the spot he was trying to get to.

He growled a little, “Would you _stop_ squirming around?!”

She huffed, “ _Make me_.”

Amadeus then did as he was told by grabbing her by her upper arm and pulling her to the side, out of the way of his ultimate goal. He took out the remote from inside of the couch, hidden away in the cushion behind Ellie’s backside.

Prize in hand, he backed away and off of Ellie, grinning in triumph as she crossed her arms and pouted a little.

“You suck.”

“No, _you_ suck for hiding the remote and sitting on it.”

“ _No_ , _you_ suck for hitting my feet then feeling me up, you damn weirdo.”

“Say that all you want, but _you_ were the one squirming your way into my hands when I told you to stop.”

“Pfft, that’s not what it looks like on the cameras.”

“It’s what it _sounds_ , though. Remember, these cameras can pick up on sound, and I wasn’t exactly trying to shut you up, and you weren’t exactly telling me to stop either.”

Ellie rolled her eyes as she settled back down on the couch, watching Amadeus secure the bowl back in his lap. “Yeah, yeah, _whatever_. Be glad I don’t have a whistle.”

Amadeus just chewed another chip in his mouth, and crunched it pointedly as he flipped through the channels. If he had flipped her off, she didn’t know because she wasn’t watching.

Both of them fell into a comfortable silence as Amadeus finally settled on a random show – something on the Discovery channel – neither one willing to say much of anything, just wanting to relax and have a quiet moment. They both needed a break from hunting for Dupree, and Ellie needed a break from schoolwork and generally using her brain.

She was just starting to nod off again when Amadeus nudged her foot with his leg.

“Mm-what?” she asked blearily.

Amadeus nodded towards the screen, “Can you believe these idiots?”

She blinked owlishly as she focused on the show and the people in said show; they were investigating unexplained disturbances labeled as paranormal to try to debunk them. She raised an eyebrow at Amadeus, “What, exactly, are they being idiotic about?”

“Because ninety percent of these ‘disturbances’ could be explained away _without_ any need to bring out any equipment like these morons are.”

“Like what?”

“Like how these people keep claiming they see a shadow go by them when they’re standing in front of a window facing the street.”

“If you give the show some time, I’m pretty sure they’ll debunk it.”

A few minutes later, and they confirmed the shadows.

Amadeus just shook his head.

Ellie craned one of her eyebrows again, “Well… uh… that didn’t look really… _shadowy_. And I’ve seen shadowy figures.”

It was Amadeus’ turn to raise an eyebrow, “Seriously?”

She nodded, “Yeah, I was in my high school getting something out of one of the utility closets when it just popped in out of nowhere then malformed itself and vanished.”

“ _Malformed_ itself?”

She cringed internally at the bad word usage on her part, “Yeah, it went from a humanoid bulky shadow into like… hell, I don’t even know, but it freaked me the hell out.”

“Were you high?”

She kicked Amadeus’ leg.

He yelped.

“I don’t do drugs, you dick – I was in the choir, so any sort of smoking would have ruined my vocal chords. Still can, too.”

Amadeus rubbed the now sore spot on his leg as he glared, “You didn’t have to kick me… simply _telling_ me you didn’t do drugs was good enough.”

“’But there’s no fun in that.’”

Amadeus glared.

Ellie just grinned and resettled herself, though her grin turned into a twist of disgust as the “accredited paranormal experts” kept making mistake after mistake, and their reactions only seemed to get more and more comical as the show continued on.

Ellie nudged Amadeus’ leg again, “Dude, just change the channel – this show is so stupid I swear I’m losing points on my IQ.”

“Gladly.”

With a press of a button, a show about some sort of wildlife in Africa lit up the screen.

And then went black.

They both paused.

_BWOOOOP-WOO-WOO-WOO-WOO-WOO!_

_BWOOOOP-WOO-WOO-WOO-WOO-WOO!_

Both of them jumped out of their skins as the general alarm _blared_ through the room, the bowl of potato chips flying onto the coffee table as the only people in the room jumped to their feet and ran to the elevator that awaited them with opened doors.

The screen on the television was no longer blank.

_CODE RED_

_[UNKNOWN] ATTACK ON CIVILIAN POPULACE_

**_AVENGERS ASSEMBLE_ **

When Amadeus and Ellie had arrived at the battle room, Steve was already suited up and heading out the door while Tony seemed to be coordinating something on the holotable.

With a flick of his wrist, he turned over the controls to Ellie and her right hand was buzzing with commands and prompts. She looked down at her hand, and looked back up at Tony who breezed past her to the hallway. “New upgrade?”

“Yup. Have fun.”

She jogged out into the hallway and stood in the doorway as Tony joined Steve in the elevator, “Where do you think you’re going?”

“There’s been a major hit in the city, and Sparkles and I are the only Avengers here at the moment, you two will have to hold down the fort while we’re gone.”

“What happens if Dupree shows up?”

Tony shrugged, “Heroics; you got the tools.”

 _You got the suit_.

Steve glared a little at Tony, but Ellie knew what he had really meant.

She nodded, “Gotcha. Go out there and kick ass.”

“I always do.”

And with that the doors shut, cutting off their conversation.

Ellie marched back into the room and stood over the table, flicking her arm in a wide arc over it to expand out her command bubbles, readouts, vitals, and face cams of every member of the team out in the field.

An aerial view of New York flickered to life on one of the blank screens.

“ _Red leader, checking in_.”

Ellie rolled her eyes at Tony’s Star Wars reference.

A readout of a Quinjet’s system popped up underneath a view of the cockpit, hands covered in signature-blue tactical gloves manning the controls, “ _I’m here_.”

“Thank you Steve for taking this seriously.”

“ _You’re welcome_.”

“ _Hey! I was funny!_ ” Tony sounded like he was pouting.

“You don’t get points for being cute. What’s your status?”

“ _We’re five minutes away from the attack. Local PD says they’ve managed to concentrate the attackers in one area but they’re losing guys trying to hold them off – they won’t last long._ ”

Ellie flickered her wrist, “I’m sending some MK-1 drones controlled by Jarvis ahead of you – they should be able to get there faster without a human passenger. No offense, Tony.”

“ _None taken_.”

A map of New York popped up with a dots signifying the Quinjet, Tony, and the drones in blue.

In another part of the map, there was a _swarm_ of red dots surround by green ones which represented the NYPD. They were disappearing fast.

Amadeus took up a seat behind her as she worked, his eyes constantly moving back and forth over the display as Steve barked orders over the comms and Ellie moved to initiate them.

When Ellie looked closer, she found a transparent purple dot on their location, signifying a deactivated unit.

 _Her suit_.

She grinned.

And went back to work.

“ _Steve Rodgers and_ Sir’s _ETA Two minutes; Stark drones ETA three seconds._ ” Jarvis piped, the little counter to Ellie’s left rapidly counting down as the duo got closer.

She blinked and the drones were already there.

“Jarvis, give me a live feed of what’s going on.”

Two screens popped into existence and showed a torn apart street, cars overturned and windows to businesses smashed to pieces. The asphalt looked scrapped and cracked from impact, and there were scorch marks everywhere.

And there were some scorched outlines of human beings.

And there were bodies.

Tens of hundreds them.

Ellie didn’t look at them.

One of the drones engaged with a hostile – It was what looked like a human decked out in black armor and _heavy_ amounts of gear.

The reason why she said _it_ was because the thing was _freaking huge._ At least seven feet tall, and built like an ox.

The hostile swung out, and the view went skyward as the drone took the hit as best as it could.

This thing punched like an ox too, if it could knock a drone off its feet with a punch.

The other screen was engaging with a small group of thankfully smaller hostiles, and was taking them out with ease.

When her eyes flickered back to the first drone, she watched as it rose up being thrown to the ground again and catching a glimpse of some the local PD trying to distract the behemoth, firing round after round into the thing’s legs, arms, and torso... _and it's head._

_And it was still walking._

She felt a cold chill go down her spine.

She felt Amadeus lean over her shoulder. His nervousness in the air tasted stronger than hers did.

“That doesn’t look good.” He said hesitantly.

She took in a deep breath, “Hey guys, one of the drones is getting it’s ass handed to it by a freak of nature – this thing has to be _at least_ seven feet tall and it taking bullets like light gusts of wind.”

“ _That’s not good_.” Tony sounded a little nervous… and intrigued.

“ _Got it. Is there anything else we need to know?_ ” Steve asked.

“Just that there’s _a bunch_ of guys as you can see…” Ellie turned back to the map to see more red dots seemingly pop out of nowhere, they probably came out of the subway stations or were using some sort of thermal masking for their heat signatures, “… but some are starting to come out of the woodworks now, and it’s starting to get a little overwhelming out there.”

“ _ETA Thirty seconds_.” Steve’s camera view turned as he started flipping switches, “ _We’ll be there soon, they’ll have to hang on for a little bit longer._ ”

The thing _crushed_ the drone’s head, cutting the feed.

One of the blue dots disappeared.

 _Fuck_.

“We lost a drone.”

Tony cursed.

And she heard the unmistakable sound of the repulsors powering up.

One blue dot in route pulled away from the other.

“ _Tony, what the hell are you doing?!_ ” Steve called out.

“ _I’m trying to get there_ faster _._ ”

“ _Tony, if you go too fast the sound of your repulsors will blow people’s eardrums or shatter the glass of the buildings around you - !_ ”

“ _Cops and civilians are dying out there and my drones aren’t going to hold out much longer, Steve!_ ”

The thing turned its attention to the one drone still standing, and _barreled_ straight for it.

“Guys…”

“ _You think I don’t know that, Tony?! I’m just trying to make sure we aren’t the ones making more casualties!_ ”

“ _Guys…_ ” Ellie watched as the drone was thrown around like a ragdoll.

“ _I’m high up enough to where they’ll be fine!_ ”

“ _Dammit Tony, what about when you have to come back down?!_ ”

“ ** _GUYS!_** "

They stopped arguing.

“ _Shut the **hell** up and kick ass_.” Ellie growled.

They were right on top of the attack site.

“ _With pleasure_.” Tony rumbled.

His viewing window showed him being high above and heading straight towards the thing throwing around one of his robot children.

Steve was shown jumping out of the back of the jet as Jarvis took over controls and dropped to ten feet above the ground.

As he was jumping out _,_ his boot landed squarely into the face of a black-clothed hostile about to kill a cop execution-style, smashing the person’s nose into their face with a satisfying _crunch_.

The thing was about to pound it’s massive fist into the drone –

When Tony tackled it, _quarterback_ style.

“ _Keep your hands off my babies!_ ”

Ellie pinched her nose at his exclamation.

“Only you Tony, only you.” She muttered.

She turned away from the screens and looked down at her wrist; there were only four buttons. The first one was already lit up in a light blue, the same color as the dots signifying the Avengers and the drone still standing.

**_Engage._ **

_Retreat._

_Self-Destruct (Drones)._

_‘Til The Last Man Standing._

She pulled her lips into a grim line at the last one.

She hoped it would _never_ come to that.

Her ears perked up as the display in front of her flashed for a moment; she felt Amadeus stiffen up next to her, “What the hell was that?”

Ellie quickly flipped her wrist and brought up a map of the building, and a diagnostic window of the system’s servers and programs.

All _seemed_ normal.

But... it seemed a little warm in the room.

She narrowed her eyes.

She turned to Amadeus, who had the same expression as her. “How much you wanna bet that wasn’t just some sort of ‘glitch’?” she whispered.

His features tightened as his shoulders wound themselves in a stiff show of his fight-or-flight instinct, “ _Dupree_.” he kept his voice equally soft.

She took in a deep breath, a plan forming in her mind as she felt the effects of her adrenaline rush starting to kick in. “You want to go fishing?”

Amadeus gave her a particular look, “What’s the bait?”

She jerked her head to the side and motioned him to follow, “What do you think? If Dupree wants you, then we’ll give him _exactly_ what he wants.”

As they walked away, the display on her wrist disappeared but the holotable still continued to show the aerial view of the attack sight, the map of the building, and the diagnostics.

Ellie turned her eyes to the camera in the corner of the hallway, and gave a nod to it.

The light _blinked_.

_Jarvis got the message._

This was going to end, _today_.

-

Amadeus felt his apprehension rise in his shoulders as he took off down the conveniently empty street, his backpack bouncing heavily on his back slightly off tempo from his feet pounding against the hard concrete of the sidewalk. His breath was heavy, and the wind blew at the bangs on his forehead, despite the fact they were starting to stick to his skin from the heat and his own exertion.

Let it be known that he did _not_ like this plan, despite it being their best course of action. It wasn’t that he didn’t trust Ellie’s abilities, or that he didn’t trust his own but… you know…

People tend to not like being used as chum to stir up the waters.

He turned his head to see Ellie easily keeping pace with him despite the five inch difference, her Munsell green eyes set in determination and her jaw set shut; having her nearby did ease his worries a bit.

She tapped her ear, “Jarvis, can you still hear me?”

His own earpiece crackled to life, “ _Yes, Ms. Fionne; you and Mr. Cho are coming in clear. The comm is hidden from the rest of the team, as per your request. Your suit is on standby._ ”

“Thanks Jarvis.”

Amadeus gave her an incredulous look.

“ _You_ have a suit?”

She shrugged as best she could, “Yeah, but we just finished it this morning, so we haven’t had the time to take it for a test flight.”

“So it may explode upon activation?”

She gave him the same look his old elementary school used to, minus the glasses. “Give us some credit Amadeus; if it does explode it’ll be at least thirty seconds before it does.”

He huffed, “Well, _that’s_ a relief.”

Ellie quickly grabbed him by the strap on his backpack and skidded to a stop at the curb, causing him to almost fly forward face-first into the sidewalk had it not been for her steel grip on his backpack.

After getting his feet back under him, Amadeus turned and glared at Ellie. “The _hell_ man?”

Ellie nodded to something in front of him.

He turned.

And witnessed five guys pop out in the same black clothing as the ones Tony and Steve were fighting off.

She grinned, “Well, looks like we were right.”

Amadeus didn’t smile.

“Where’s Dupree?”

He turned back to her as her eyes searched the approaching men, “I don’t know. Maybe he’s just waiting to pop out after you’ve been subdued.”

Amadeus scoffed, “Like _hell_.”

Ellie let go of his backpack and planted her feet, her right foot positioned like a runners’, ready to propel her forward at a moment’s notice.

“You ready for this?” she asked.

She didn’t take her eyes off the group in front of her.

He turned back, and took a deep breath.

“Now, or never.”

One man stepped foot onto the asphalt of the intersection.

Ellie sprang forth like a hungry cheetah, her loose bangs in the braided bun of her hair horizontal from the shear friction of the air _whizzing_ past her.

The other man put his other leg forward to meet her.

But she just raised her foot and _smashed_ his knee with the underside of her boot, no doubt breaking his kneecap.

A strangled cry of pain erupted from him, and was silenced when Ellie grabbed him by the head and knocked his temple into the top of her own bent knee.

Amadeus quickly pulled his backpack off.

And _threw_ it into the face of another guy advancing on Ellie while her back was turned.

Stunned, the crony quickly stepped backwards and into one of the others, taking them both to the ground.

Amadeus ripped off a top of a metal trashcan, and held it in his hands like a shield.

The fourth guy that had seemed to avoid all the chaos charged forwards at Amadeus, while the other two on the ground got back up to deal with Ellie.

Nodding to himself as he noticed something up above, Amadeus threw the lid in his hands up in the air.

_CLANG!_

The other man continued to run forth –

_Bang!_

And got a metal fire-escape ladder to the top of his head.

 

The trash can lid fell back onto the ground and rolled into the prone figure’s leg.

Amadeus swiftly maneuvered around the possibly critically injured man, and dashed forward as he noticed that one of the guys had managed to get behind Ellie and pulled her into choke hold.

The other crony had a baton in his hand, and raised it –

Only to be tackled by Amadeus to the ground.

Pinning him beneath his legs, Amadeus raised his fist and _slammed_ it into the man’s face.

His enemy dazed, Amadeus quickly grabbed the baton that had fallen out of the man’s hand and _smacked_ him across the face with it, knocking the man’s head to the side and making him go still.

Turning back quickly, he watched as Ellie deftly countered the hold on her by seemingly pushing up the whole hold and trapping the man’s arm by his wrist and elbow, and twisted him into a crouching position.

Still grasping his wrist, she raised her leg and drove her shin into the man’s head twice in quick succession, and then drove her forearm into the man’s jaw.

All of which caused him to fall to the ground in a lifeless heap.

Amadeus blinked.

She raised an eyebrow.

“What? I had it covered.”

“Didn’t look like it to me.”

She rolled her eyes as she picked his tossed backpack up and threw it over her shoulder, then she reached a hand out to him, “Looks can be deceiving.”

He grasped her hand, “Read that off a fortune cookie?”

She pulled him up, “Okay, that’s just straight up racist, man.”

Amadeus leveled a deadpan look at her, “Seriously?”

She threw the backpack into his hands, then turned on her heel as she started to run down the street, “Prove me wrong then!”

Amadeus took off after her and secured his backpack once more, “Fortune cookies are Chinese. I’m Korean.”

She smirked, “Actually, while the recipe for the cookie itself is Chinese, the actual concept of fortune cookies is completely American.”

Amadeus stumbled, “Wait, _what_? You’re bullshitting me.”

She shook her head as she picked up the pace, “Nope! When this whole thing is over, we’re going to look that up so you can see it for yourself.”

Amadeus grunted, “Yes, because that sounds like a load of bull to me.”

“Keep that air of skepticism, Ama. You’ll never be fooled.”

“Don’t call me Ama.”

“If you didn’t want to be called Ama then you should have had a shorter name – your full name is a mouthful.”

They cut a corner, “ _Excuse me_ , I had no control over what my name was when I was born. My parents picked that for me – “

“Yeah, yeah, because they were huge fans of historical names.”

He glared at her, “I still find you knowing everything about me _really_ creepy.”

“Get used to it.” Ellie pushed Amadeus to the side to avoid hitting a random free-standing construction sign, warning people not to fall into an open sewer hatch, “Also, _watch where you’re going!_ ”

Amadeus stumbled, then managed to get his feet back under him and to continue following Ellie, but said nothing as his cheeks tinged pink and embarrassment was heavy in his shoulders.

As businesses and buildings whizzed by them, Amadeus felt the heavy presence of being watched coat his skin. “How long until we get there?”

“ _At your current speed, you should arrive within fifteen minutes._ ” Jarvis informed.

Ellie jumped over a fallen sign, and continued to run as if there had never been an obstruction, “Damn it, why hasn’t Dupree shown up yet?”

Amadeus was starting to pant a little, “I don’t know – maybe he wants us to wear ourselves out before he tries again.”

Ellie huffed, “He’s too impatient for that now – he has us out in the open and far away from the others, and is _much_ closer to killing you than he has ever been. The very fact that you’re so accessible now has to be beyond titillating.”

“That’s what has me worried.”

“A little too late to back out now.”

“Never- never said I wanted to, I’m… _hoo_ , I’m just a little worried.”

Ellie looked back to see Amadeus starting to lose his breath, fatigue from the sustained running for so long and the fight from earlier.

She slowed down, jogging next to him as his face was now no longer red from embarrassment but from exertion, sweat beading up on his brow and making his bangs stick to his face. Eventually, he slowed down until he came to a complete stop, completely out of breath; he was trembling a little from the aching burn in his legs, and the hot ache in his abdomen from his stressed out diaphragm and abdominal muscles.

Ellie was only puffing lightly as she kept up with him and stood next to him, keeping her eyes on the surroundings around them – luckily, the police had evacuated as many people as they could from the surrounding area. Fights between superpower giants could get pretty massive radiuses very easily.

Amadeus crouched over and had his hands on his knees, his breath coming out so harsh that his throat was starting to burn a little. When he looked up again and noticed that Ellie was only a little affected by their run, he was dismayed a bit.

“Just… _what_ are you?” He asked her incredulously.

She shrugged, “I’m human, but Natasha has one hell of a training schedule… bordering on abusive, actually. If I’m not in school or helping Tony in his lab I’m training with her for ten hours a day.”

Amadeus closed his eyes as his head dipped back down, “ _Fuckin’_ hell…”

“I get breaks though, so I’m not complaining.”

He shook his head as his breath calmed, “You’d think she was training you for the Iron Man Race or something…”

“When you hang around the Avengers, people tend to want to try to kill you. The faster I can learn to defend myself, the faster I _can_ defend myself without getting half-killed in the process.”

Amadeus rose up from his crouched position and rolled his shoulders, though his legs still felt like Jell-O. “I’m not sure if I can still run.”

“Then we’ll jog.” Ellie narrowed her eyes on something in the distance, “But right now we need to get going.”

She quickly turned on her heel and began jogging down the street, and Amadeus began to follow her. Curious, Amadeus looked to where she was staring at, but he couldn’t see anything. He turned to look at her back as they jogged, but he couldn’t help the silent feeling of being hunted.

Maybe Dupree wasn’t waiting. Maybe he was –

**_BOOM!_ **

Amadeus was thrown off of his feet as the explosion erupted behind him, making him fly head-over-heels and land _hard_ on the pavement of the street.

His whole world was black.

But only for a moment; the next he was blearily staring up into the sky with his backpack digging into his back and puffing his chest out.

With a wheeze, he managed to get his arms behind himself and levered up to take in what was going around him.

And any wooziness he felt immediately dissipated.

Because a feminine, purple Iron Man suit was locked in battle with a black Iron Man suit.

 _Ellie_.

 ** _Pythagoras Dupree_**.

Amadeus quickly pulled his legs underneath him, but when he went to stand, he felt a tremendous surge of pain and was forced to rest on his left knee. When he looked down, he noticed that there was a sizable bump on his right knee, probably sustained from when he was sent flying into the air and landed on the ground. It probably took a good amount of the impact.

_Clang! Clang!_

_Heeeeeeee- BOOM!_

Amadeus jerked his head up to see Ellie blasting the black suit away and through a window, and following close behind, disappearing from sight.

From the sounds of clattering, shattering, and smashing, Ellie was putting up a damn good fight.

This time Amadeus took his time to slowly stand up and put most of his weight on his left leg, starting to hobble away from the fight and to somewhere he could hide out until it was over. 

He seemed to take an eternity to make it to the curb, but judging from the fact that the sounds of the fight stayed within the building the two suits disappeared into, it couldn’t have been that much time.

It felt like pulling teeth when he had to step _up_ onto the curb, having to put weight on his right leg and causing a massive spike of pain to erupt over his senses, but he didn’t let himself fall back to the ground like he had the first time.

Finally on the sidewalk, he made his way into the alley and kept going, finally taking refuge behind a dumpster when his knee couldn’t let him go any further.

Collapsing on the ground, Amadeus curled up into a corner and stayed there. He was too injured to fight.

He tapped his ear piece – somehow it was still in his ear – and reconnected with Ellie’s active comm link.

“ – _Alright you son of bitch, got anymore insults to my intelligence that you’d like to bestow upon me while I continue to kick your ass, or will you admit defeat and allow yourself to be taken in to answer for all the bullshit you’ve pulled?_ ”

Ellie, still full of piss and vinegar, as always.

He heard the sound of wheezing, and then the sound of a respirator.

“ _You young kids nowadays think just because you have a physical advantage over me that you can defeat me, when my mind has already calculated three hundred different ways to use your physique against you_.”

Hot, boiling anger rose up in Amadeus.

 ** _Dupree_**.

“ _Really? Then how come I’m kicking your ass so well?_ ”

“ _I’m merely_ letting _you win._ ”

“ _Yeah, just like every other sore loser I’ve ever met in my life_.”

There was the sound of crunching drywall.

“ _Now, I’m going to ask you one more time;_ do you surrender or **not** _?_ ”

“ **Never**.”

The audio feed clipped from how loud the repulsor blast was, and Amadeus jumped when he heard the distant sound of glass shattering on the ground _._

Ellie grunted, and he heard the sound of a high pitched _ting_.

“ _You stupid little ape, you boast about how you can defeat me but you seem to have forgotten I’m using a suit that is evenly matched with yours, not only making me physically equal to you…_ ”

Ellie cried out, and Amadeus heard the sound of something crashing through bricks and glass.

“ _But that I am also smarter than you will ever be.”_

Amadeus gripped his legs tightly as he heard the fight continue; grunts, half screams, and yelps were the only things he heard over the comms while off in the distance he listened to the sounds of breaking glass, tumbling walls, and metal scraping against pavement.

“ _Poor little girl, you’re even more pitiful and weak than when you popped into Stark’s care. All of that boasting, all of that parading around, and you can’t even measure up to the standards of Stark’s failures. In fact, I think you have single-handedly established new –_ ”

_BOOM!_

Dupree give out a rather loud holler at around about the same time that an explosion shook the ground beneath Amadeus’ feet.

“ _The only failure I see,_ is you, _Dupree.”_

There were more sounds of metal-on-metal, and sounds of objects being destroyed all around them.

“ _You are so inadequate and downright foolish that a damn fifteen year has out smarted you for the past_ four years _, and_ continues _to outsmart you. Hell,_ I’ve _outsmarted you, and I’m the one who had a solid_ fourth grade math level _for ninety percent of her life, and I’m not the one still running around calling people apes when not only am I from the same race as the person I’m insulting, but when science had debunked that theory_ years _ago._ ”

Ellie gave out a small roar.

And Amadeus jumped when he heard the two combatants _smash_ through a wall a hundred yards away.

He scooted a small bit forward to peek an eye out.

Ellie was standing over a limp Dupree.

“ _You say you’re the sixth smartest man in the world. But we all know what you really are…_ ”

Ellie reached down and grabbed Dupree by the throat, lifting him up in the air and over her head.

“ _A sad, pathetic old man who’s ego overcompensates for his impotence._ ”

Amadeus felt his breath freeze in his chest.

**_Damn._ **

He heard Dupree seething through the comm.

“ _You… damned…_ **HARLOT!** ”

Uh-oh.

_Wrrr-BOOOOM!_

Ellie was sent _flying_ backwards and back out into the street, Dupree quickly following her and grappling her as he pulled her down, and ground her faceplate into the asphalt.

He pulled her head back and _smashed_ it back down again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again.

And again

And _again_.

Then he flipped her over and straddled her, his armor-covered hands around her neck as he leaned in close to her face. Amadeus heard the bone-chilling sounds of the metal creaking around Ellie’s neck as Dupree start to _squeeze_ in earnest, causing Ellie to choke. His faceplate flew open and he came what would be considered nose-to-nose with her had she removed her own face plate.

“ _You will_ die _here, and you will be_ forgotten.”

She tightened her grip on his wrists.

“ _N-n-no…_ **You will!** ”

_WRRRRRRRRRRRRR-_

**_BOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!_ **

A bright line of light shot up _straight_ from Ellie’s arc reactor.

And through Dupree’s chest.

Amadeus hear him gurgle through the comm.

Then Dupree wheezed and coughed as he fell over and off of Ellie, who was too busy ejecting the pieces of metal off of her neck to care about the man.

When the faceplate finally fell away Ellie gasped in a breath of air, coughing and sputtering as her bruised larynx fought to get back under control; she spied Amadeus hiding behind the dumpster.

Amadeus nodded to her and slowly got up, grasping onto the side of the dumpster as he limped forwards towards the street.

When he finally made it out of the alleyway, he turned his head to Dupree who twitched as his life drained away from him.

When their eyes met, one’s was in despair while the other’s was triumphant.

Amadeus sped-limped his way to Dupree’s head as he approached his final moments.

A grim line appeared on Amadeus' lips.

He _kicked_ Dupree's top row of teeth and part of his nose in, in one fell swoop.

“ _That was for my **family**_ , you motherfucking _baby-killer_.”

The Korean-American _spat_ on Dupree’s face.

“Now _burn in **Hell**_.”

Dupree gurgled past the blood and teeth rising in his throat.

And died.

-

Ellie breathed out heavily as she watched Amadeus stare at Dupree’s dead body, tense and beyond seething with rage.

She slowly got to her feet and came alongside him, her eyes glued to the bloody remains of Dupree’s mouth.

“Not how you thought it would feel, hm?”

Amadeus didn’t say anything.

“I bet you were expecting some feeling of relief – that this heavy weight would just fall off your shoulders and you’d go right back to how you were when they were still alive.”

Amadeus was still quiet.

Ellie tore her eyes away and looked at the quiet genius, his face no longer torn in anger but devoid of anything.

He let out a shudder of a breath.

“I…”

He took in a deep breath.

And looked her dead on.

“Would that have been too much to ask?”

Ellie _felt_ the despair radiate from him as his emotions started spiraling out of control, the grief he had been suppressing for years finally coming to the surface as he finally witnessed the death of the man who killed his family.

She moved forward and felt the suit pull away as she pulled Amadeus close, her arms looping around his neck and shoulders to bring him into her warm, tight embrace. She felt Amadeus stiffen for a moment, before he started to hug her back tightly, and buried his face in her neck.

As he started to cry, she couldn’t help but feel a few tears escape her own eyes.

-

Ellie sank lower into her chair as she bore the heat of _three_ glares – two physical, the other one through a screen on the holotable of the battle room.

Nat was being broadcasted from somewhere remote, and Steve was in front of her.

Tony was sitting beside her.

None of them were very happy.

“… at least Dupree is dead…”

Tony seemed to hiss his breath through his nose harshly as he somehow upped the heat on his gaze.

She dipped even lower to try to avoid the sunburn.

“ _Ariel Jazmyne Fionne_ _that doesn’t **matter**_.”

She turned and slowly looked at Tony.

She knew she was in trouble.

“ _Just_ _what the hell were you thinking?!_ ” Tony thundered, “Your actions nearly got not only _yourself_ killed, but it got _Amadeus_ injured in the process; I only gave you the suit to use in an emergency situation – _not_ to make yourself bait and engage in full-out combat whenever you wanted.”

Ellie lightly rubbed at the deep bruises on her neck, and faintly remembered the fading injuries done upon her person two weeks ago that she still had stitches for.

“Not only did you do that but you could have very easily gotten yourself killed from not calibrating the suit before you took it for a spin!” Tony seemed to get even more livid as he continued, “On top of that you caused _massive_ damage to countless businesses and homes, _and_ you somehow caused nearly irreparable damage to the suit _on its first day off the table!_ ”

She glared back at Tony, “Excuse me, do I see any of you berating the other for accidentally smashing through buildings?”

“That’s not the point, Ariel.” Steve warned.

She sat straight up in her seat, “You know what? You–” her shoulders shook as her brain scrambled to find the words to speak, “Fuck it, I don’t give two _fucks_ about what you think – this guy was _never_ gonna stop and we kept hitting dead end after dead end. I had to do something!”

“And that something _almost got you killed_.” Tony hissed.

“You nearly get yourselves killed every time you gear up!”

“Because that’s our _jobs_ , Ariel. We’re trained professionals who have been doing this for _years_ , while you only have been in this universe for _three months_.”

“And during those three months I’ve spent a majority of it either in school or training for ten hours a _day_ with Natasha.”

“ _That doesn’t make you an experienced fighter, Ellie_.” Natasha called out, “ _You’re nowhere_ near _ready for a full-on confrontation with a real threat – You barely got away with your life when you went up against a real fighter trying to kill you the first time, and Doom and Dupree weren’t very well trained to being with_.”

“If you check the camera footage, the second time I royally handed those goons their ass–”

“ _And you stupidly allowed one of them to get you from behind and would have been beaten to death if Amadeus hadn’t saved you by tackling his buddy to the ground_.”

“Which is _why_ I didn’t go alone.”

“You shouldn’t have gone _at all_.” Tony growled.

“Dupree was the seventh smartest man in the world – he hacked through our cyber defenses and broke in just like the last time. I mean, he hijacked one of the suits for crying out loud!”

“And you could have used the one I made you to take him down _here–_ ”

“And what? Risk a suit-less Amadeus being thrown out the fucking window?”

“How do you know that?”

“ _How do you know that he couldn’t have, Tony?_ We’re talking about someone who took over a damn _suit_ remotely and flew it over for his own personal use – _What’s to say he wouldn’t have just said ‘Fuck it’ and hacked the drones to **kill** **us?**_ ”

“You don’t know that.”

“Actually _I did_.” Ellie waved her hand and pulled up the computer logs, “If you look _right here_ you’ll see that there was a malfunction in the air system.”

Steve rose an eyebrow, “What’s your point?”

Ellie turned to the captain, “My point is; if you take a deeper look at the logs you’ll see that the malfunction was just a cover up for a breach in security. The air system is hooked into the whole network via Jarvis, and when he gained access to the air system, it was only a matter of time before he pivoted into the rest of the system and would have eventually shut the whole thing down. Hell, if he would have kept going he would have eventually gotten to the drones instead of just the one suit he nabbed. I’m just lucky my suit is under heavier security than the drones.”

Tony pulled the windows over to him and scanned the data, “How did you get these?”

“Amadeus pulled them for me as we were leaving the building. I wanted to be sure of what I was thinking before I walked out that door.”

Steve turned and looked at Natasha, who seemed intrigued…

But still pissed at Ellie.

Tony snorted.

“Well I’ll be damned, she’s right. When you pull back the layers, you can clearly see Dupree hacking into the air system and breaking through the firewalls to get to the backdoors to access everything else in our system.”

Ellie crossed her arms, “The only reason why I noticed anything was wrong was because the holotable started glitching out from the circuits and drives getting too hot.”

Steve looked over to Tony, and the inventor looked like he couldn’t seem to decide if he was going to continue to be angry or if he was going to concede that Ellie may have taken the best course possible.

Steve sighed.

“You should have told us what was going on, we could have backed you up.”

Ellie shook her head, “As far as I knew you had your hands full with the initial attack, and I didn’t want to risk you guys losing more people just because one of you decided to come back to try to save our asses back here when we could handle ourselves just fine.”

“Define _fine_.” Tony barked.

Ellie leaned back in her chair, “We’re not _dead_ , if that’s what you’re asking.”

Steve fixed his eyes on Ellie’s bruised neck as Tony continued, “Amadeus fractured his kneecap and had a concussion while you almost got strangled to death. Had we not known about your ‘excursion’ the bleeding in your neck would have formed a blood clot that would have went straight to your brain and caused you to have a stroke. _And_ you’re lucky you didn’t get a concussion from how many times Dupree smashed your head into the ground.”

Ellie had the decency to look a little embarrassed.

Tony huffed a little, “Not to mention the fact that you reopened some of your deeper wounds from when you were attacked the first time. You didn’t even have all of your stitches taken out yet and you were bustin’ people’s faces in.”

“I really didn’t have much of a choice. If I wanted to end this I needed Dupree to come out into the open, and to do that I had to fight off his goons.”

Natasha clapped her hands together, “ _She_ does _have a point._ ”

“Doesn’t mean that she was completely in the right, she still should have told us.” Tony argued back.

“ _Well, would you have done what she said and continued fighting where you were?_ ”

“Yes–”

“No.”

Tony looked at Steve in shock.

“No, _you_ wouldn’t have. You would have taken off after them or sent a drone, and if Dupree was deep into our system like you say he was then that would have only given him more ammunition.”

Ellie blinked, “Are you siding with me this time, sparkles?”

Steve’s eye twitched slightly at the nickname, “I’m not saying I approve of your behavior, but I can understand why you did what you did in the moment. And I hate to say it, but I may have done the same thing if I had to.”

“Which I did.”

“No, you didn’t. You could have told us and got our input first.”

“We weren’t sure how much time we had before Dupree would find out he had been made – for all I knew he had access to the camera feeds and was watching us, and I couldn’t risk him knowing.”

Steve sighed again.

Natasha echoed the sentiment with her own sigh, “ _Look, arguing about this is getting us nowhere. Let’s call a truce and say that while Ellie’s actions were reckless and irresponsible, they were probably the best we could have done at the moment; we need to look at the bigger picture here_.”

Ellie shifted in her seat, “What do you mean?”

“ _According to my sources, while Dupree was one of the top smartest people in the world his forte was_ not _computer science._ ”

“Meaning…?” Steve asked.

“ _Meaning that whoever he had help from to break into Tony’s systems was someone who was good enough to out-hack him,_ twice.”

Steve frowned, “I didn’t see any calling cards of any cyber-terrorists on our watch list.”

“ _We haven’t looked on the hard drive of the suit Dupree stole – breaking into our system is one thing, but_ hijacking a suit? _That’s on a whole other level._ ”

“She’s right. And those guys that we were fighting? They weren’t your run-of-the-mill cronies – not only were they highly trained but they were freakishly strong and hard to kill.” Tony commented as he tossed the logs away and began accessing the hard drives in question, the screen with Natasha’s face minimized.

“The ones Amadeus and I fought were normal.”

Steve shifted on his feet. “Not ours. You saw it yourself, one guy tore one of the drones to pieces and wouldn’t go down no matter how many bullets the cops put in him, even when they aimed for a kill shot.”

Tony laughed nervously, “It took me severing his head to finally kill him.”

Ellie twitched and curled up in her seat a little bit, “ _Oooh,_ that sounds gross.”

“It was. I never want to see that again.”

“Anyways,” Steve interrupted, “Something doesn’t seem right and if there are any answers to be found they might be on the commandeered suit’s hard drive.”

“Which we’ll have access to… _now_.”

With a press of a holo-button, the hard drive for the stolen suit lit up the screen.

And the whole room froze.

A bone-chilling emblem was the background of the hard drive’s virtual desktop.

**_H.Y.D.R.A. _ **

 


End file.
